Episode 6: Juiced
by ClassicCartoon27
Summary: Tony needs to attend the annual Leaders Summit and he has a date with...Penny? What will her mother the Queen have to say about that? Will Tony be able to keep his identy a secret? read and find out. PLease read and review.
1. Chapter 1: I'm in the Band

Here it is Episode 6...if you haven't guessed it yet my brother and I are TV (mostly cartoons) fanatics. We have gotten some feed back and are in the process of fixing those mistakes. We noticed alot of you are looking at the stories and we hope you have enjoyed them. WE have started a foum for those of you that have any questions we urge you to ask questions and leave feed back, once a gian thank you and ON WITH THE SHOW!

**EPISODE 6 – JUICED**

_"I y'am what I y'am, and that's all that I y'am."_

-Popeye the Sailor Man. _Popeye the Sailor_. 1933

"But Howard, dear, I'm not asking for details; just a general idea. Was it marital problems? I know Francine and her husband has been arguing quite a bit lately."

"Donna, you know that I cannot discuss Mrs. Ruthberger's sessions with anyone."

"But I'm a concerned friend. I should know what's bothering her."

All three members of the Masters family were seated around the breakfast table. Donna Masters, the slim, bushy haired matriarch of the family, was doggedly questioning her husband, Howard, about his latest psychiatry patient. Mawaga was a small town and Howard Masters was its only psychiatrist. Donna was not in the habit asking her husband about his sessions (she was familiar with doctor-patient confidentiality), but Francine Ruthberger was one of her closest friends. More importantly, once Mrs. Masters set her mind to something, it was almost impossible to deter her.

Despite protests, bribes, and mild threats, Howard Masters sat impassively, mustachioed face set in a disinterested look as he kept his eyes on his newspaper. He did spare a glance over the paper to observe his only child and teenage son, Tony Masters.

Tony was sitting in his chair, his head resting against one hand while the other slowly stirred a bowl of soggy Froot Loops. His eyes were half closed, his mouth set in a grimace, and every muscle in his body was limp and lifeless. He looked like a boy trying to enjoy his last meal.

Of course, it was a school day and Tony felt that school was the biggest waste of time ever invented. Even so, today he was even more reluctant to go.

Tony caught his father's eye and his scowl deepened. Howard simply ignored Tony and went back to his paper.

"Tony. Stop playing with your food and sit up," said Donna, temporarily distracted from her quest for information. "You'll get a hunch in your back like that."

Tony shot her a dirty look too, but it had no more effect on his mother than his father. This only caused Tony to be angrier. He promised to himself that he would never speak to his parents ever again.

Howard seemed to sense his son's darkening mood. Without looking up he said, "You realize, Tony, that you brought this on yourself?"

Tony almost chocked on his breakfast in shock. Completely forgetting his recent vow of silence, he shouted, "What? How is this my fault?"

"You have been coming home late every night for over a month," said Donna. "You're always tired, you're grades are dropping, and it seems like every time I see you, you have a new bruise on your body."

Tony unconsciously grabbed his arm and winced as he squeezed a black-and-blue mark bigger than his palm. "Well, that doesn't prove anything," he said defensively.

"It's a cry for attention," said Howard confidently. "I see it all the time."

"We're worried that you might be getting mixed up in the wrong crowd," said Donna hesitantly. She didn't really believe that, but saying it meant a greater possibility of it becoming true. "So, your father and I decided that you need a hobby."

"And High School Band was the best you could come up with?" he asked as he stared at first one parent then the other. "Why not ballet or science club or chess club?"

"They were all full." His mother sound genuinely disappointed.

_Great, even the chess club member don't want to be in the band._ "All I'm saying is, couldn't you have signed me up for something cool? Like sports or martial arts." said Tony while making a fighting stance.

"And have my baby come home with even more bruises!" squawked his mother as she looked at Tony, horrified. "Out of the question."

Tony had already had this agreement with his parents last night and he knew that nothing he had said then or could say now would change their minds. Resigned to his fate, the teenage boy grabbed his Max-Pack book bag and headed out the door.

His friends John and Crystal were waiting for him on the sidewalk, like they did every morning. John was stocky and usually dressed in black jeans, black shirt, and a black jacket. Crystal was thin, but not disgustingly supermodel thin, and was easily recognizable by her vibrant wardrobe.

Donna met her son at the door and gave him a quick peck on the check. "Now, you have a good day at school, Sweetie."

"Yeah, sure Mom," said Tony. He walked quickly down the driveway to join his friends.

"And have fun in the band!" Donna shouted.

Tony cringed. Every kid walking to school and waiting for the bus had heard her. They all pointed at Tony and laughed.

"A little louder next time, Mom," said Tony. "There must be a couple of people in Uruguay that didn't hear you." Tony hung his head and tried not to look at anyone as he joined his friends.

"HA HA HA! You're in the band!" said John. He was laughing so hard, he was grabbing his sides.

"John, don't laugh at him," said Crystal as she elbowed John in the gut.

"Yeah, really," said Tony. "How can you laugh anyway? You like music. It's your dream to have your own band."

"And you're always telling us how much girls love band members," added Crystal.

"No, they love _musicians_," said John, being careful to stress the word. "Musicians who look cool and play cool music out of their garage. The high school band plays dorky music and wears those dumb white uniforms that make you look like the army."

"He's right," sighed Tony, looking utterly defeated.

Crystal put a comforting hand on Tony's shoulder and said, "Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

John said, "In High School Band, you have to play what they tell you, wear what they tell you, and act like they tell you. It's nothing but a regular class with a theme song."

Tony said nothing. He just trudged along next to his friends.

Crystal was still determined to support her friend. "Personally, I find it refreshing that you'll be doing something cultural. After school activities always look good on a college resume. Besides" she said as she gave Tony an accusing look, "at least this way we'll know where you are."

Tony couldn't bring himself to meet Crystal's eyes. It was true, Tony wasn't spending as much time with his friends anymore and often had to back out of stuff they had planned to do together. He did have a very good explanation though. Last month, Tony had discovered that his grandfather, Theodore Masters, had been a cartoon character from another dimension known as Toon World. That meant that Tony was half-Toon. Plus, Tony had been chosen to follow in Theodore's footsteps and become the Toon Master, the greatest hero of all Toondom.

That's why he was so tired all the time and why he was always banged up: because of the hero training and fighting with the evil forces of M.A.D. – the organization trying to take over Toon World.

Of course, Tony could never tell any of this to his parents. His Mom was overprotective enough already. His father would have him sent to an asylum. He also couldn't tell his friends, but lying to them was different than lying to his parents.

"I know I've been a flakey lately," Tony said as he looked at the ground. "You may not believe me, but I do feel bad for all the time I've missed with you two."

Crystal jumped right in front of Tony stopping him is tracks, "Then tell us where you've been running off to and hiding for the past six weeks!" she demanded.

Tony looked at John for help but he seemed to want an answer too. "OK, fine, you win", said Tony. He took a deep breath began to explain all that has happened since two Toons, Tom and Penny, came to Earth and told him about his grandfather. He told them about how he was sent to another dimension, how he was chosen to receive super powers and was now responsible for defeating a horrible evil. Tony finished his explanation feeling relieved that he finally got that off his chest. He looked to his friends, certain that they must have questions, but John just burst out laughing again. This time he was practically rolling on the ground.

Crystal, on the other hand, simply punched Tony in the arm, then turned in a huff and started to walk off alone saying "If you're not going to take this seriously then I'm walking to school by myself."

At first, Tony was surprised that his friends didn't believe him. He tried to explain it again, but Crystal was out of earshot and John was still laughing too hard. Well, Tony supposed that it did sound pretty unbelievable. Sometimes, even he thought it might just be a dream. Tony shoved John out of the way and ran to catch up to Crystal.

School proceeded as normal; class was too long, lunch looked inedible, and the trio just barely escaped getting detention when a substitute teacher screamed after seeing a fully dressed skeleton reading Harry Potter in the biology classroom. Even that terrific prank couldn't lift Tony's spirits. This was the first time he could remember actually dreading the end of the school day.

All too soon, the final bell sounded and Tony, John, and Crystal made their way down to the basement of the High School where the art and music rooms were. The rectangular room used for band practice was small and cramped. Empty black cases and old, broken instruments were piled everywhere. One end of the room held an old wooden desk piled high with papers and sheet music. The other end held a stack of beat-up lockers. Two rows of chairs were arranged in a semi-circle in the center of the room in full view of a large blackboard hanging on the wall. The blackboard was decorated with lines of music and notes that made about as much sense to Tony as advanced Calculus.

John understood the music notation well enough. He shook his head, disgusted, and snorted, "Classical music. Boooring." Tony glanced around the empty room and said, "Well, no one's here. Too bad; better try back another time." He tried to leave and almost bumped into a woman standing in the door way. The woman was a little shorter than Tony and a little pudgy, if truth be told. She was wearing a brown dress, white long-sleeved shirt and a tan vest. A pair of thin rimmed glasses sat nestled within a head of raven black hair.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Can I help you?" The woman's voice was soft and friendly. "I'm Miss Atone, the music teacher."

"Ah, no," said Tony. "We were just leaving."

"This is Tony Masters," said Crystal, completely ignoring the look Tony directed at her. "He's your new band member."

Miss Atone went over to the wooden desk and picked up a clipboard with several frayed papers attached. She lowered her glasses and skimmed down the clipboard until she stopped at the bottom and tapped on Tony's name.

"Ah, yes, I spoke to your parents, Tony," said Miss Atone. "They seemed to think you needed to build some character, that you were having some personal issues." She peered sternly at Tony over the clipboard. "I don't consider the band to be some kind of reform program for troubled teens, but they assured me that you did like music."

"Well…yes," Tony admitted reluctantly.

Miss Anote put down the clipboard and gave a friendly smile. "In that case, I'm sure you'll have fun with us."

John made a cough behind the teacher's back that sound a lot like "not likely".

Tony was in agreement, but made no comment. "So, when does the rest of the band get here?"

"Oh, there is no practice today," said Miss Atone. "Today will be devoted to finding out where you belong in the band. We will drag out the talent within you and place it within the great puzzle of life. You will become a golden cog within the well oiled machine known as music."

Tony and Crystal stared uncomfortably at Miss Atone as she made this speech. After, Crystal turned to Tony and said, "Now, doesn't that sound like fun."

Tony's could only roll his eyes in response.

Miss Atone went to the lockers and pulled out several instruments. Each one was chipped and battered, long abandoned by students years ago. "We'll try some of the practice instruments and see which one speaks to you," she said. She handed Tony a clarinet. "Try this one first. The clarinet is the easiest instrument to learn for beginners."

Tony put his lips on the mouthpiece. The wooden reed was so soaked through with spit, it felt like it would melt in his mouth. Fight back the urge to gag, Tony took a deep breath and blew.

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

A horrible high-pitched sound came out of the clarinet and pierced everyone's ears; even Tony, who immediately stopped playing.

"It's always hardest the first time," said Miss Atone encouragingly. "Try again."

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

"Third times the charm."

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

The third time was definitely not the charm, nor was the tenth time. Miss Atone took back the instrument and said, "The clarinet is apparently not for you, Tony. But do not worry, we will find the instrument that goes with your musical talent."

As the afternoon wore on, Miss Atone found it hard to keep up the optimism. Tony wasn't able to make a single pleasant note on any of the instruments that the music teacher presented to him. The flute was a failure, the bassoon was a bust, the oboe was awful, the sax was lax, the trumpet was terrible, and the violin was vile.

"You're a tricky customer, aren't you?" said Miss Atone, a little bit of strain in her voice. "Melvin Glock is already using our only tuba, so the only other instrument we have is precussion."

Tony picked up a pair of drumsticks lying on the floor and said, "Bring 'em on."

Miss Atone laughed nervously and said, "Why don't we quit for today and pick this up again next week. Enjoy the long weekend."

"Well, at least that's over with," said Tony as he John and Crystal left the school grounds.

"Until next week that is," said John. "Then, your torture continues."

Tony didn't look too worried. "Hey, you never know. I may stink at the drums too. It's pretty obvious I have no musical talent. Miss Atone can't let me into the band if that's the case, can she?"

"I knew it," said Crystal.

Tony looked over at his friend and found an angry scowl glaring back at him. "Pardon?"

"I thought you might be purposely playing those instruments badly," accused Crystal. "You were, weren't you?"

"I most certainly was not!" said Tony defiantly, but Crystal's continued stare made his stomach squirm with guilt and he relented, "Well, not all of them. I did really try to play the clarinet."

"And then you realized that if you were horrible with all the other instruments, you could get out of joining the bad," Crystal said hotly.

"Dude, excellent plan," said John, patting Tony on the back.

"Thank you."

"Don't act so proud," spat Crystal. "Tony, you're doing yourself a disservice by not trying your hardest."

"Look, I never wanted to do this in the first place. My parents are the ones who signed me up for this," Tony shot back. "Besides, I'm too busy for band. I have…other stuff to do after school. And I've barely spent any time with you and John lately. If I joined the band, we'd never get to see each other."

It seemed that Crystal could not find an argument for that one. "Fine. You have a point." She was unwilling to concede total defeat, however. She turned her back on both Tony and John and said, "But I'm still disappointed in you."

Crystal was refusing to talk to Tony for the rest of their walk home and uttered only a quick goodbye upon reaching Tony's house. Tony didn't much care. He was mad at Crystal for siding with his parents and mad at his parents for having Crystal on their side, even if they didn't know it.

Tony said goodbye to John, completely ignoring Crystal, and went into his house, closing the door as silently as possible behind him. He listened carefully; the house was quiet. Tony remembered that his dad had some kind of psychology lecture tonight and had planned on dragging his mom along with him. They wouldn't be back until late.

That was fine with Tony. He had his own plans for kicking off the weekend.

Tony raced up the stairs to his bedroom which was, as usual, a mess. Dirty clothes lounged about on the floor and hung limp on a chair and off the side of his bed. The wastebasket was overflowing with tiny crumpled up paper basketballs, the number one sport for homework procrastinators. A thin layer of dust covered every surface except for the rows of action figures that lined the many shelves on the room walls.

With only a brief stop to gaze at his latest acquisition – a one-one hundredth scale model of the Justice League's orbiting Watch Tower space station – Tony rummaged through the drawers of his bureau until he found his Portal Remote. The Remote was a small grey box, similar to a TV remote, but with just one button. Tony held the Remote out in front of him and pressed the button. A thin horizontal line appear in the air and split into a white square with black lines running across it, just like television static.

Tony grabbed his Max-Pack and stepped through the portal. After a moment of dizziness, the teenage boy found himself standing on a grassy hill overlooking the vast city of Toon Town. Even though it had been late in the afternoon when Tony got home from school, the sun was high in the sky over the city. Time moved differently in Toon World than it did on Earth, but it was impossible to pinpoint a definite pattern to it. Just one of many wacky things the world of cartoon characters had to offer.

5


	2. Chapter 2: PreFlight Prep

Air filled Tony's lungs as he breathed in deeply the subtle smells hidden within the pure, clean atmosphere of Toon Town. As he exhaled, all the tension from school, band practice, and his argument with Crystal melted away. He loved being in Toon World. It felt like home as much as Mawaga did, sometimes even more so. That wasn't too surprising. After all, Tony was half Toon on his grandfather's side. Theodore had been Toon Master, the hero of heroes, before settling down on Earth and Tony was proud to carry on that mantle.

One more deep breath and Tony directed his feet down a stone path that lead over a sparkling blue moat and across the drawbridge of a gigantic castle: Toon Palace. It was a castle made out of grey stone and had to be at least a hundred times bigger than Tony's own house. Unlike Tony's first visit to Toon World, the palace's gates now stood wide open, welcoming all guests. Autumn was finally catching up to Toon Town. The trees in the royal gardens had leaves tipped in bright reds and yellows, even though the blooming flowers were still going strong. The flags and pennants on every tower flapped in the cool breeze and the flag of Toon World hung prominently over the palace entrance. It was a red rectangle with 2 thick white stripes making an X and dividing the flag into four quarters with a symbol on each quarter. One quarter showed a black anvil, one a large yellow banana peel, one a bright pink heart, and the last one had a blue musical eighth note.

Seeing the music note on the flag reminded Tony of the band try-outs and his disagreement with Crystal, but he pushed such thoughts from his mind, determined not to let it ruin the rest of his day.

As he approached the palace gates, Tony saw Coilman, Fluidman, and Multiman – The Impossibles – guarding the entrance.

"Hey, guys," said Tony in a cheery voice.

None of the three heroes bow to or saluted the Toon Master as they would have to another important figure. Instead they gave big hearty waves and greeted Tony like an old friend.

"Rally ho, Tony!" shouted Coilman, bouncing up and down on his spring legs. "What kind of training are you and the Super Stars doing today?"

Tony shook his head and answered, "No training today. Me and the guys are just gonna hang out and watch a couple of movies."

"Sounds good," said Multiman with a hint of jealousy. "I wish we could knock off work early for that."

"On the other hand, I'm thankful we don't have to be in the palace right now," said Fluidman. The other two Impossibles nodded in silent agreement.

"Why? What's wrong?" asked Tony.

Coilman leaned forward and motioned for Tony to do the same. He reminded Tony of his mother when she had a juicy piece of gossip to tell. "Princess Penny and the King are having another one of their…disagreements." The way he said _disagreements_ made it sound like whatever it was, was more than just a simple difference of opinion.

Tony nodded, understanding completely. Penny and her father, the King of Toon World, were known for their _disagreements_. They didn't happen often, but when they did, a clash with Dr. Claw's forces could seem tame by comparison. Royal arguments like this were always about the same thing: Penny being a member of the Super Stars and the fact that her father didn't like it. The King always insisted that he just wanted to protect his daughter and Penny always insisted that she could look after herself.

Hopefully, this argument wouldn't leave Penny sulking and ruin the evening. Tony thanked the Impossibles for the heads-up and went into the palace.

As soon as Tony entered the foyer, he got an uneasy feeling. Something was amiss. There wasn't anything wrong, per se, at least nothing he could immediately see. Things just seemed different somehow.

At first he thought it might be the fact that he didn't hear the fight he had been warned about between Penny and the King. Usually, their voices could carry throughout the palace and one time several people from Toon Town called in to voice their own opinions. Tony couldn't hear anything right now and that's when he realized what was different. Not only could he not hear any arguing, he didn't hear the usual hustle and bustle of the palace servants.

A place as big at the Toon Palace had hundred of servants of all ages working day and night to keep the place running. In the entrance hall alone, there was usually at least a dozen people in crisp white uniforms sweeping, dusting, making repairs, or carrying trays of food. There was no one around now, though.

When Tony had first been chosen Toon Master and started coming to Toon World regularly, the servants had all bowed and called him Sir, like he was royalty. Tony had really enjoyed that for the first few days. After that, it started to grate on his nerves a bit. Plus, it was kind of ridiculous. Some of the palace servants were as old as Theodore had been. The idea of them bowing in supplication to a teenager was just silly. Tony assured them all that such actions were not necessary. In no time, he was making friends with every servant he saw. He made an effort to learn everyone's name, their job, and a little bit about their family.

Without the familiar faces, the palace seemed so much colder and lonelier. Tony stepped up his pace and hurried to the Super Stars Recreation Room. The palace had many such Rec. Rooms, but this one was reserved exclusively for the Toon Master and his team. The walls were painted with bright, festive colors – all except for one, on which hung a huge flat screen TV. Arcade games and computer systems were spread out everywhere. There were also game tables for foosball, ping pong, and pool.

Jim and Mary were lounging on the couch and Tom was trying to get comfortable in one of the bean bag chairs. They turned their heads when Tony arrived.

"Finally," said Jim impatiently. "Where have you been? We almost started the movie without you."

Tony apologized as he sat down in a leather armchair on the left side of the couch. He explained about how his parents had made him stay after school and try out for the band. He had hoped for a little support from his friends, but unfortunately, they seemed to be on Crystal's side.

"You really should try harder, Tony," said Mary in the exact same accusing tone Crystal had used. "After all, music is an integral part of every Toon's life."

Tony didn't answer; he just looked away and gave a noncommittal mumble. Eager to change the subject, he said, "So, what movie are we watching?"

Jim shook the DVD case in his hand. "You'll love it. It's a contemporary remake. Godzilla vs. King Kong vs. Dracula vs. Wolfman vs. That Guy With The Chainsaw."

"Oh man, I hate horror movies," whined Tom. "I always get scared and scream like a little girl."

"That happens when we watch the Three Stooges," Jim said.

"I have an acute fear of being poked in the eye," Tom said defensively.

"Whatever," said Jim. He took the movie out of the case and went over to the DVD player. "Let's get this party started!"

"Hold on," said Tony. "Shouldn't we wait for Penny?"

Jim, Mary, and Tom exchange a strange look before Mary answered, "I don't think Penny will be coming. She's having an argument…"

"…with her father," finished Tony. "I know. Coilman told me about it. But it should be over pretty quick, right?"

"Fat chance of that," laughed Jim. "Penny's not only fighting with the King, but also with the Queen. Mother and daughter never agree on anything, especially when to stop an argument."

"It's the same thing every year," said Tom wearily. "Penny hates going to the summit. Her parents had to practically drag her there last year."

All three Super Stars looked at Tony like he would understand, but the teenage boy just looked confused. "Penny doesn't want to go to what?"

"You know, the annual Leader's Summit," prompted Mary, looking expectantly at Tony, but he just shook his head and shrugged. "Big Conference? With the leaders of Toon World? Happens every year?"

"Oh, that annual Leader's Summit," said Tony with a tone of comprehension. He thought about it for a minute and said, "Nope, still never heard of it."

Mary let out an impatient sigh and said, "Tony, Penny told you about it just last week."

"She did?"

"Yeah," said Tom. "She mentioned it to you on Monday when we were all down in ACME Labs.

Tony thought hard back to that day.

_Utter chaos and confusion was reigning in the Labs as every worker, ran for their lives, desperately trying to find a hiding place. An oozing purple muck covered nearly every inch of the floors and walls, even dripping off the ceiling in huge lumpy blobs. Besides the fact that this was totally disgusting, the blobs of ooze were sprouting mouths filled with rows of razor teeth. The hungry little globs were surprisingly quick, sliding along the floor, snapping and nipping at the frantic ACME workers._

_Tony and the Super Stars had been backed into a corner by a large group of the blobs. They poked at the slimy enemies, keeping them at bay, but not frightening them off. The blobs hissed at the Stars and looked for any opportunity to dart around their defenses and sink their teeth into the teens' flesh._

_Amid all this pandemonium, Mike, Head Inventor for ACME Labs, stood in the middle of the room, wearing an apron that said 'Kiss the Genius" and holding a mop. He shouted at an unseen person, "Murray, that bottle was clearly marked DO NOT SHAKE!"_

"That's when Penny told me about this thing?" said Tony.

"Weren't you paying attention?" asked Mary.

"Oh, no sorry, I guess I wasn't," said Tony. "I was more focused on trying not to get my FINGERS CHEWED OFF!"

Jim patted Tony's back and said, "Tony, dude, you gotta learn to multitask."

"Right," said Tony. "So, what's this conference all about, anyway?"

"World leaders from across the Tuniverse will gather together to discuss the most pressing political and military issues," said Mary from the couch. "Of course, the focus this year will be Dr. Claw and his ongoing conquest of Toon World."

"Leaders from all over Toon World, huh?" asked Tony. He was starting to feel excited. "Do you know exactly who will be there?"

"Naturally, anyone who can come, will," said Mary. "Many rulers aren't available or don't have the ability to travel to the summit."

"Usually, what happens is that that most of the leaders who go are from the Sector of Toon World where the summit takes place," explained Tom. "The location changes every year. This year it's held in the Kingdom of Dunwyn in the Disney Sector."

Disney? Tony loved Disney cartoons; he had always been a huge fan. He'd seen every animated movie at least twice and was a faithful follower of the Disney Afternoon block of television shows. "Oh boy, Disney! I bet all the princesses will be there: Ariel and Jasmine and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty of course that means Aladdin will be there and maybe King Triton although he's a merman so I don't know how that would work and maybe Belle with the Beast since I think he's a ruler like a prince or something and since it's Dunwyn that means King Gregor will be there and Princess Calla and maybe…"

While Tony was running off at the mouth, Mary got up from the couch and went to the small refrigerator in the corner of the Rec. Room. She got out a bottle of water and dumped the whole thing on Tony's head.

Tony immediately stopped babbling. He sputtered and pulled the wet brown hair out of his eyes. "Thanks, I needed that," said Tony, shivering from the ice water.

"Anytime," said Mary as she screwed the cap back on the bottle.

Jim adopted an embarrassed tone, much like John and Crystal would when Tony started talking about cartoons to them. "Tony, try to retrain yourself from geeking out when we get to Dunwyn."

"When we get to… You mean we get to go?" asked Tony delightedly.

"Well, duh," said Jim. "And I don't want to squash you're enthusiasm, but it's not a vacation. We'll be working."

Who cared? Any time spent in Toon World was like a holiday for Tony. Still, he was curious, so he asked, "What kind of work?"

"Security detail, of course," answered Tom. "All those world leaders in one place make for a tempting target."

"Each of the leaders has their our entourage of guards," said Mary. "What better protection for the royal family than the Toon Master?"

"AND his elite team of Super Stars, thank you very much," Jim added.

"Wow." Tony was a little stunned by the whole scope of this one conference. "This is some big deal, isn't it?"

"Sure is," said Mary. "The entire palace staff has been packing all week for this trip."

"It takes a whole palace full of servants to pack for one conference?" asked Tony in disbelief.

"Ho ho," laughed Jim. "You gotta see this to believe it." Forgetting all about the movie they were supposed to watch, Jim led the way out of the Rec. Room. Mary, Tom, and Tony followed into the Throne Room where they took the elevator down to the main Research and Development room of ACME Labs.

Normally, the R&D room was filled with rows of tables piled high with scientific experiments of every sort. Smoke billowed out of bubbling beakers and oddly shaped machines whirred and clicked all day long. Today, the experiments were pushed aside to make way for stacks and stacks of suitcases; hundreds of them all piled high in teetering pyramids. White uniformed servants rushed in between the piles filling some suitcases, emptying others, and carting the full ones away.

One servant boy – a teenager just a year younger than Tony – was pushing a luggage cart loaded so heavily that Tony wondered how he could possibly see where he was going. Apparently he couldn't, since he nearly crashed right into the Super Stars.

"Hey, watch where you're going," said Tom. "You're supposed to yield to pedestrians."

"I'm so sorry, Super Stars," said the boy, panting heavily. "Sorry, Tony."

"It's okay, Ryan," Tony assured him. He gestured to the mounds of luggage. "What is all this?"

It was Jim who answered. "This is what the Queen will be taking with her to the Leader's Summit."

"All this for the Queen?" exclaimed Tony.

"Actually, these are the suitcases of the Queen's Ladies in Waiting," explained Ryan. "The Queen's stuff will be loaded onto Toon Force One tomorrow." With a great huff, he got the cart rolling again and continued on his way.

"Sheesh! And I thought my mom over-packed for weekend trips," remarked Tony.

"I know," said Mary. "At least the staff will hit the jackpot with overtime pay tonight."

"Yeah, but since their all busy here, there's no one to help us pack up our stuff," complained Jim.

"You lazy bum," Mary said with a smile on her face. "You only take one bag."

"Hey, what's the point of living in a palace if you can't get the servants to do the work for you?" asked Jim. "I mean, it is their job."

"He's got a point, Mary," said Tony. Then a thought occurred to him that made him very uneasy. "Wait…pack a bag? How long does this summit last?"

"About two day, Standard Dunwyn Time," said Tom.

"Two days?" exclaimed Tony. "I can't be gone from home for two days. Mom worries when I leave her sight for more than fifteen minutes."

"Not to worry." Everybody jumped as Mike popped out of one of the suitcases lying nearby. He stepped out of the luggage, pulling several socks out of his lab coat pockets and a pair of leopard print boxer shorts off of his head. "I have the solution to your protective parent problem," he said to Tony. "Follow me."

The walls of the R&D room of ACME Labs were lined with sliding doors leading to other, more specialized, experimentation areas. Mike led Tony and the others to one of the few doors that weren't barricaded with luggage. As they went through, Tony read GENETIC DEVELOPMENT over the doorway and a squeamish feeling started to form in his stomach.

"Uh, Mike, you're not thinking of doing anything to my parents, are you?" Tony knew Mike would never intentionally harm anyone, but he felt compelled to ask nonetheless.

"Oh no, no, no, Tony, I'd never do that," Mike assured the young Toon Master.

The pressure eased off Tony's stomach as he sighed with relief.

"I'm going to be performing this process on you," Mike said happily.

And the pressure was back with a vengeance.

Mike directed Tony to a cylindrical glass chamber with a blinking computer console attacked to one side. Directly under the console was a row of four test tubes connected to the glass chamber by a small hose coming out the top of the tubes.

"What is that?" asked Jim.

Mike didn't answer. He just opened the door to the glass chamber and motioned for Tony to step inside. Tony complied, overriding every instinct that told him not to based on past experiences with Mike's inventions. "So, what exactly is this going to do?"

Mike pushed several buttons on the console as he said, "Just relax; this will just take a minute."

"This won't hurt will it?"

"Of course not," said Mike. He hesitated and then amended himself. "But, you may feel a slight tingle."

"Tingle?" said Tony nervously. "What do you mean by tingle?"

Ignoring Tony's questions, Mike activated the chamber. A low humming sound filled the room as the glass cylinder slowly filled with a dense white fog. Jim, Tom, and Mary watched on anxiously as Tony disappeared from view.

Mary folded her hands tightly in front of her. "Mike, you're sure this is safe?"

Her answer came from inside the chamber as Tony could be heard saying, "Hey, uh Mike, it's getting a little hot in here. Do you…hey what it that thing? Is that a…Ow! Oh! Hey, ouch! What the heck…Ooo! Ooooooo! Well that wasn't so…OOOOOW!"

One of the test tubes under the control console slowly filled up with a pink, flesh-colored substance. Not quite a liquid; more like mud or silly putty. When the tube was full, the door to the glass cylinder opened again. Jim, Tom, and Mary backed away as white mist spilled out over the floor and a disheveled Tony stumbled out, grabbing the edge of the cylinder for support.

"You call that a slight tingle?" Tony demanded outrageously to Mike.

Mike shrugged and said, "One man's tingle is another man's excruciating pain." He pulled the full test tube from the machine and handed it to Tony. "In any case, it worked. With this baby, you're parents will never know you were gone."

Tony looked uneasily at the contents of the tube. It looked like someone had thrown up their lunch, swallowed it, and thrown up again. "I don't have to drink this, do I?"

"Not unless you want to look like Sabertooth for a month," laughed Mike. "This is a Quick Clone formula."

"Like the kind the Men in Black use?" inquired Tom.

"Correct," said Mike. "Just pour this stuff out before you leave for the summit, Tony, and an exact duplicate of you will take your place on Earth."

Tony thought it was an excellent plan, but there seemed to be one flaw. "Don't Quick Clones dissolve pretty quickly?" On television, MIB Quick Clones never seemed to last more than a few hours and once their energy ran out, they started babbling incoherently and melted into a puddle of genetic glop.

"I added a few protein stabilizers," said Mike. "This clone will last throughout the summit with time to spare."

"Mike, you rule," said Tony with a big smile. "This has got to be your best idea yet. In fact, if this works, we should use Quick Clones more often. I wouldn't get in trouble anymore when I come to Toon World and…"

"Whoa ho ho there, Mister," said Mike. He put his hand over the test tube in Tony's hand and said, "Sorry Tony, but there are strict rules on genetic cloning: for emergency purposes only. You can't just whip up a clone any time you want. They're not Pop Tarts."

Only slightly disappointed, Tony stowed the tube of Quick Clone formula carefully in his Max-Pack as everyone headed back into the R&D room. This long weekend was turning out better than he'd hoped. He'd made sure he wouldn't be joining the school band and he'd be meeting his favorite Disney heroes in a few hours time. "This trip is going to be perfect."

"AAAAARRRRRRRRGH!" someone shouted in a very familiar female voice.

"What the slag was that?" asked Tony, looking all around for the source of the yelling.

"That was the sound of perfect being thrown out the window," said Jim.

From the far side of the R&D room, in the direction of the spaceship hangers, came a duet of footsteps hurrying towards the Super Stars. Penny emerged from behind a pile of luggage. Her simple outfit of blue jeans, a green shirt and sneakers belied her status as Princess of the Toon World and the Super Stars' second in command. The expression on her face was one of simmering fury. She hardly looked where she was going as servants rushed to clear a path for her through the scattered baggage. She didn't even notice her friends or Mike, passing right by them.

A few seconds later, Penny's father – King Magnus himself – appeared, struggling to keep up in the wake of his daughter. A jeweled crown of solid gold sat upon his salt and pepper head. Robes of deep blue and red billowed out behind him as if pulled by an angry wind. Like Penny, the King looked ready to spit nails and took no notice of anyone else present while he vented his rage.

"Young Lady! Don't you dare storm away from me like that!" boomed the King. "Just because you're upset does not give you the right to treat your parents with such disrespect."

Penny stopped and turned to face her father. She didn't shy away from the power in the King's voice, but returned it in kind. "For the hundredth time, Father, I do not want to go."

"And for the hundredth time, you're going," said the King. Adopting a slightly calmer and more diplomatic voice, he continued, "Besides, Calla and all you're other royal friends will be there. Do you not want to see them? You don't get the chance to do so very often these days."

"Of course I want to see them," said Penny. "It's the princes and young lords I don't want anything to do with. They'll prance around in their stupid poofy outfits and talk about how rich they are and how many servants they have and…"

"And hopefully you will be more courteous towards them than you have been to anyone today," said the King.

"Well maybe I would if they didn't expect me to fawn over their every word like some love struck nitwit," spat Penny. "Plus, Mother is going to make me dance with every single one of them." She said this as if receiving a death sentence.

"You could avoid that by simply taking an escort."

Penny looked horrified at the idea. "That would be worse. Then I'd never be able to get away from them."

The King looked to have very little patience left with his daughter. "You're mother would not insist on a royal escort if it were someone of equal status and importance."

Penny snorted, indicating what she thought of the Queen's so-called compromise. "Yeah, right. The only person like that in Toon Town would be…" she looked around the room, as if hoping someone suitable would materialize right in front of her. Finally, she settled her gaze on "…Tony."

The King's response was immediate and adamant. "No. No, I'm sorry, the Toon Master cannot be your escort to the summit."

Now normally, Penny listened to her parents – well, her father at any rate – and was not the type of princess who whined until she got her way. However, the heat of the argument was bringing out Penny's inner brat. "What do you mean?" she asked with daggers in her eyes. "If I want Tony as my escort then that's who I'll take!"

"Fine!" shouted the King, throwing up his hands in frustration. "Take Tony, but just remember it was your choice." With that, the King strode away back to the hanger bay.

Penny stood with her arms crossed and a smug smile on her face, relishing her perceived victory for a few seconds. But then, she seemed to realize exactly what had happened. She looked at Tony with another horrified look and ran after her father shouting, "Wait! Wait a minute! That choice doesn't count; I was under distress!"

Mike and the Stars stood still, an uncomfortable silence settling between them after the exchange they had just witnessed. It was almost half a minute before anyone dared speak.

"Maybe those two should have shouted a little louder," said Jim. "There might be a couple of people in the next galaxy that didn't hear them."

"It's like this every year," sighed Mary."The Leader's Summit is all about politics and hobnobbing with royalty. Penny hates anything that reminds her of her birthright."

"If I was a royal, I'd never want to forget it," said Tom. "What about you, Tony?"

There was no answer. Tom looked over and saw Tony frozen in place, just staring at the spot where Penny had been. Tom peered closely at Tony's face. The Toon Master's eyes were out of focus and his mouth was hanging open slightly. Tom waved his hand rapidly in front of Tony's face, but got no response.

"Uh oh. Guys, Tony's broken," reported Tom. As an afterthought, he said, "I didn't do it."

"What's wrong with him?" asked Jim, pointing at Tony. He pushed on Tony's shoulder, causing the Toon Master to sway slightly like a punching dummy. "Hey! What's wrong with you?"

Tony blinked rapidly and shook his head. He seemed to be coming awake from a trance. "I'm…uh, I'm…fine, but could somebody please explain what just happened?"

Mary thought it was pretty obvious what had happened, but she tried to explain it slowly and clearly for Tony's sake. "Well, every year Penny puts up a fuss because she doesn't want to go to the Leader's Summit…"

"No, no, no, I got that part," Tony said harshly. "I meant, could someone explain what Penny meant when she said I was her…escort." Tony had to swallow twice before he was able to choke the word out.

Jim put his arm around Tony's shoulder and said with a weird grin on his face. "What that means is that you have a date with the princess, you stud you."

"What?" Tony was flabbergasted. Penny could barely stand being in the same room with him sometimes and now they were dating? Tony had never been on a date in his life. "I don't think I can do this. I don't think I'm qualified."

"Oh, Tony, it'll be fun," said Mary. She could picture Tony and Penny making a lovely couple.

"Fun?" Clearly, that was not what Tony was picturing. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as his breaths came in short gasps. "What if I say something stupid? What if I do something stupid?"

"Tony, relax," said Jim who backed away a bit since Tony looked like he was going to pop from stress. "All you have to do is sit with Penny at dinner, dance a couple of times and you're done.

"Dinner? Dancing?" Now Tony was in full blown panic mode – a mode usually reserved for situations of certain doom or running out of chocolate pudding cups. "What if I use the wrong fork at dinner? What if step on her toes while dancing? What if she asks me what the capital of Arkansas is and I don't know?" Tony grabbed Tom by the shirt and shook him. "Why don't I know?"

Tom pulled a bucket of water from behind his back and dumped the whole thing over Tony's head, including the bucket.

"Thanks, he needed that," said Mary.

Tony pulled the bucket off of his head and wiped the water from his eyes. "Maybe so, but this whole water running gag stops right now."

"Sure, spoil the fun," said Jim as he tossed aside a dripping fire hose.

Mary cautiously approached Tony and asked, "You okay?"

Tony smiled reassuringly at her. "Sure. I just got a little nervous there."

"Don't worry," Mary said. "Jim, Tom, and I will help you out so you don't embarrass yourself." She looked down at Tony's sopping wet clothes. "You don't happen to own a tux, do you?" When Tony shook his head, Mary replied, "Then I suggest you see the royal tailor today. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning."

8


	3. Chapter 3: Mommy Dearest

Sleep was not an option for Tony that night. He was way too excited. He'd lie down in bed, but his eyes just refused to close. Finally, around 3:30 in the morning, he figured he might as well go to Toon World now. Being as quiet as possible so as not to wake his parents, Tony got dressed and retrieved a small suitcase from the basement. It sat empty on Tony's bed as he went over his checklist of things to bring on the trip to Dunwyn.

"Clothes?"

Tony pulled out two sets of underwear, an extra pair of pants, and a couple shirts, rolled them all together into one big ball and tossed them into the suitcase.

"Check. Snacks?"

Several bags of chips, boxes of cookies, and bottles of soda were added to the suitcase.

"Check. Reading material?"

Tony dropped a few volumes of his favorite manga books on top of the snacks, thought for a moment, and then added a few more volumes.

"Check. It could be a long flight. Oh, and lastly, my autograph book." Tony reverently took a small notebook out of his desk drawer and placed in on top of the other books. That notebook contained the signatures of all the cartoon heroes he had met so far. He knew it was unseemly for the Toon Master to be asking for autographs from other heroes and the Stars had warned him about it, but he just couldn't help himself.

Having finished packing, Tony pushed down on the suitcase with all his might, but still being careful not to squish the potato chips, and locked it up. He slung his Max-Pack – with the Toon Sword nestled safely inside – on his back and fished his Portal Remote out of his pocket. He was just about to open a portal to Toon World when he realized, "Oops! Almost forgot the most important thing."

Tony reached into his Max-Pack and pulled out the test tube of flesh-colored Quick Clone solution Mike had given him yesterday. He was still a little weary of the stuff, since this was Mike we were talking about, after all, so Tony carefully popped the tube's cap and held it out as arms length as he poured in on the carpeted floor.

The fleshy liquid didn't spread out across the floor, as Tony had expected. It formed a tight ball, like liquid mercury. The substance began to bubble and swirl and then it rose up from the floor until it was as tall as Tony. A vaguely human-shaped body began to emerge. Two arms detached themselves from the top half as the bottom half split into two legs. A ball formed for the head and brown hair sprouted out of the skull like a Chia Pet. Lastly, the features of the face appeared and suddenly Tony was literally beside himself.

"Wow," he breathed. "You're me. You're perfect. You're..." Tony looked down and then quickly averted his eyes. "You're naked!"

The clone looked down too. He gasped and grabbed the blanket from Tony's bed and covered himself with it. "Sorry about that. Boy, that was embarrassing."

"I'll say." Tony went to his dresser and pulled out a spare pair of pajamas, tossed them at his clone and said, "Hurry and put these one before you get us an X rating."

As the clone was dressing, Tony couldn't help but notice that, although the clone was still thin, he had more muscle mass that Tony was used to seeing on himself. All that training was really paying off. "I gotta admit, I look pretty darn good."

"Why, thank you," said the clone.

"You sure you're going to be alright for the whole weekend by yourself?"

"Not to worry," the clone assured Tony. "I have your personality plus all your memories up until the time Mike took the DNA sample. No one will suspect that I'm not you."

Finally convinced, Tony laid out the weekend schedule for the clone. He had made plans with John and Crystal, his mom and dad expected him to be home for dinner every day, and there was some homework he hadn't got around to doing.

"Also, if you could find a way to smooth things over with Crystal by the time I get back, I'd really appreciate it," Tony requested sheepishly.

The clone smiled tolerantly and said, "I'll give it your best shot."

Tony watched the clone climb back into his bed and then he retrieved the Portal Remote and pressed the button, creating a portal to Toon World.

"See you Monday," Tony said to his clone.

The clone waved goodbye and said while yawning, "Turn the lights out when you leave, okay?"

Stepping through the portal, Tony saw that the sun was already peeking over the horizon in Toon Town. Sunlight weaved its way through the streets below, but the city seemed to be still asleep. Tony stifled his own yawn as he headed up the stone path to the Toon Palace.

Instead of The Impossibles, Tony saw the Robotic Stooges – Moe, Larry, and Curly – guarding the castle gates. As he approached, Moe held out his hand and commanded, "Halt! Who goes there?"

"Guys, it's me. Tony."

Larry tapped his finger against his chin in thought. "Tony. Tony. Do we know anyone by that name?"

"He must be the delivery boy bringing the pizza I ordered," said Curly. He licked his lips in anticipation.

"You can't have pizza for breakfast," said Larry.

"You can if there's bacon on it, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck."

Scowling angrily, Moe grabbed Larry and Curly's heads and banged them hard together. The two stooges groaned and held their heads as Moe pointed at Tony and said, "That's the Toon Master, you dummies. Now open the gates."

"Alright already, sheesh." Curly extended one of his robotic hands across the span of the drawbridge and pulled the lever which opened the portcullis: the metal frame behind the castle doors that prevented invading hordes from charging in. Tony thanked the stooges and went inside.

Unlike his visit yesterday, the palace halls were filled with servants going about their business. Tony said good morning to several on his way to the throne room. He guessed that meant all that luggage had somehow been squeezed onto Toon Force One. Therefore, Tony was very surprised when he reached the hanger bay of ACME Labs and found it filled with more rows of luggage being packed away by servants. _How much luggage does one royal family need? _he thought.

Tony began to worry that there wouldn't be enough room on the ship for his suitcase. He tried to attract the attention of a servant passing by – a young girl with curly brown hair – to ask where he could put his things, but the girl completely ignored him. She didn't even look his way. Annoyed, Tony tried asking the same thing of two more servants, but they too acted as if he didn't exist.

Tony was starting to feel a little hurt at all this snubbing, especially since it seemed the Toon Master couldn't go ten steps in Toon World without attracting someone's attention. More than that, though, Tony had started to count the palace servants as his friends, so it stung a little that they wouldn't at least say hello. Then again, as Tony looked around, he realized that he didn't recognize any of the servants currently bustling by, despite already being introduced to hundreds of palace occupants in just the last six weeks. He wondered where these particular people worked that had prevented their paths from previously crossing.

Finally, Tony was forced to grab one of the servants by the arm to get his attention. The man was older, in his late 50's or so. He was thin with a balding head of grey hair. He held himself perfectly erect as if his spine were a metal pole. He gave Tony a disapproving look as he peeled Tony's fingers from his sleeve.

"Sorry about that," Tony began, "but I need to…"

"What is the meaning of this?" The older servant spoke in a dignified, but stern voice. There was a hint of a British accent.

Tony wasn't sure what to say at this question, so he didn't say anything. He looked around, thinking maybe the old guy was talking to someone else.

"What are you doing just standing there?" There was no question now that the man was addressing Tony.

"I'm sorry," said Tony hesitantly. "Is this a no loitering zone? I didn't see a sign."

The old servant scowled and said, "Enough jokes, young man. There's work to be done." The servant grabbed two nearby bags and threw them into Tony's arms. The young teen staggered under their weight and had barely recovered before and third, fourth, and fifth bag were added. "Get these to the ship. Quickly, Quickly!"

The old servant pushed Tony in the direction of Toon Force One. The column of luggage swayed as Tony struggled to keep his balance and prevent them from toppling which he managed to do until just before he reached the entrance ramp to Toon Force One. Tony leaned back too far and the bags dropped heavily on top of him.

" Tony, you made it." Tony pushed a bag off his head and saw Jim standing next to the entrance ramp. He bent down and helped Tony out of the pile. "We were afraid you weren't going to make it in time. Another three or four hours and we'd have left without you."

"Yeah, I can see you guys are almost ready to go," said Tony as he looked around at the mounds of luggage being loaded. "Do the King and Queen really need all this stuff?"

"No, just the Queen," corrected Jim. "The King packs much lighter than this. Besides, you're hardly one to talk." He gestured with his hand to the five suitcases Tony had been carrying.

"Oh, those aren't mine," Tony said quickly. He told Jim about the older servant.

"That was probably Steven, the Queen's Chamberlain," said Jim. "He must not have recognized you and just assumed you were one of the pages." Jim called over to a group of young boys, "Hey, fellas, we got a few more over here." The servants rushed over and grabbed the bags that Tony had dropped.

"Speaking of not recognizing," said Tony, "I don't remember seeing any of these servants in the palace before. Are they new?"

Jim barked out a laugh and said, "Hardly. Everyone here is a personal servant to the royal family. Kind of like the upper class of the serving world. I'm not surprised you've never seen them before. They hardly ever venture out of the upper levels of the palace; you know, where the King and Queen's private chambers are."

Ah, that explained it. Tony had never been near the King and Queen's private rooms so he had never come into contact with any of their personal attendants. As Tony looked at the servants passing by, he noticed that their white uniforms were adorned with not just the flag of Toon World – like all other servants were – but also with a strip of gold cloth along the cuffs and collars.

"So, where is Queen Bridget anyway?" asked Tony as he looked around trying to spot her. "I'm eager to finally meet her."

"Yeah," said Jim, rolling his eyes. "That attitude won't last very long, believe me." He ignored Tony's look of confusion and focused instead on a group of people approaching Toon Force One. "Speak of the devil, here she comes."

Tony followed Jim's gaze. At the head of the group were King Magnus and a woman who had to be Queen Bridget. She was a tall, elegant woman wearing a long green gown and a gold crown slightly smaller than the King's. As she got closer, Tony could see Penny's features in her face. She also had her daughter's long, blonde hair. The Queen's skin was paler than the tan Penny had acquired due to going out on missions and outdoor training. In her right hand, she held a golden scepter with a large diamond sitting on the top, just above an engraving of the Toon World Flag.

Behind the King and Queen was Penny, dressed in a bright pink skirt and blouse with matching high heeled shoes. The sight actually struck Tony as kind of odd; he had never seen Penny in a skirt, much less high heels. She looked good though, very good, but she was walking like she was being led to the gallows with her shoulders slumped and head hanging down. Encircling her was a ring of royal attendants, looking not so much like servants as guards. Tony had the feeling they were there to prevent Penny from making a last ditch effort to escape.

Last in line were Mary and Tom, dressed in normal everyday clothing and being completely ignored by everyone else in the group.

Tony and Jim both bowed with a cheery "Good morning, Your Majesties" to the King and Queen as they approached.

"Good morning, Jim, Tony," said King Magnus. "It's going to be a beautiful day for space travel." The King looked at his wife and, holding out his hand in introduction, said, "My dear, I do not believe you have met the new Toon Master yet. This is Tony Masters."

Tony gave a smart bow and then held out his hand for a handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Queenliness."

Queen Bridget looked at Tony's outstretched hand as if it were the most disgusting thing she had ever seen. With a contemptuous look at the Toon Master's smiling face, she said, "Magnus, you know I don't like you chatting with the common folk. It sets a bad precedence."

Tony awkwardly pulled his hand back. He was completely at a loss as how to answer the Queen Bridget's rudeness. Normally, he'd have an amazingly witty comeback to throw in the offender's face, but this is a Queen we're talking about and Penny's mother besides. Tony looked to Jim for support but only received an I-told-you-so look.

King Magnus was likewise embarrassed by his wife's behavior. "Bridget, Tony is Theodore's grandson," he said in a terse voice. "He has already saved several planets, including Toon Town, with his skill and courage and we are lucky to have him as Toon Master."

The King's praise did not seem to endear Tony to Queen Bridget. In fact, at the mention of Theodore's name, the Queen turned a positively ghoulish look Tony's way. He was suddenly reminded of a scene from the movie Alice in Wonderland where the Queen of Heart ordered the beheading of several members of her playing card army.

"I knew your grandfather, boy," said the Queen menacingly. "He was brutish, obstinate, lacked sophistication, and refused to realize his place on the lower rung on the ladder of society." Queen Bridget waved her scepter so close to Tony's face that he had to take a step back. "I warn you; I will not tolerate that kind of attitude a second time."

Apparently, Tony's grandfather and the Queen never quite saw eye to eye.

"Steven!" roared the Queen. The same tall, white haired man who had handed Tony all that luggage earlier appeared instantly by Her Majesty's side. "Have all preparations been made for the trip?"

"Almost, Your Majesty. Your wardrobe for the first day of the summit has been packed, but we are still loading the bags containing your second day attire." Steven spoke apologetically, as if it was his own fault the Queen had packed enough to clothe the population of China and that the servants were not done loading it.

Queen Bridget sighed in a long suffering way. "We cannot wait any longer or else we'll be late for the opening ceremonies. Just make sure my gown for the grand ball is packed."

As Steven rushed to see to her orders, the Queen turned to the princess and said, "Now, Penny, I hear you have finally chosen an escort for the summit?"

"Yes," Penny mumbled.

"What was that?" the Queen asked, raising her voice threateningly.

"Yes, Mother dear." You could almost see Penny gag on the words as they came out of her mouth.

"Well, who is it?"

"Tony."

The Queen thought for a moment. "Tony Stark? The industrialist? He is quite wealthy dear, but perhaps a bit too old for you."

"No, Mother," Penny said impatiently. "Tony Masters. The Toon Master."

Queen Bridget looked back at Tony who gave a toothy smile and waved by wiggling his fingers. The Queen gave a small twitter of laugher before saying, "Really, Penny, we have no time for jokes. Now, whom is your escort?"

"It's Tony, Mother," the princess crossly.

"Please tell me this is just some kind of teenage rebellion," begged the Queen.

"I can't say I'm entirely comfortable with it either," said King Magnus, "but the decision has been made and it's too late to do anything about it so let's just be on our way."

Following her husband's advice, Queen Bridget said no more on the matter; although, it was obvious she would have liked to. She gave one last round of scowls to King Magnus, Penny, and finally to Tony before boarding Toon Force One. The King followed, looking relieved to have avoided another argument. Penny went up the ship's ramp next. She didn't say a single word to her teammates, but did throw Tony an angry look to rival her mother.

"Oh, I can tell this is going to be a fun trip," muttered Tony.

"Try not to take it too personally," said Mary, indicating the Queen's rudeness. "It's not like she's singling you out."

"True," said Jim. "She hates all of us equally."

"She does not hate us, Jim," admonished Mary.

"She just holds us in total contempt and has a complete disregard for our personal wellbeing," said Tom in a flat and serious voice. Then, in an excited tone, he said, "Well, let's get going," and ran up the ship gangway. Mary followed while Tony and Jim brought up the rear.

"Suddenly, I'm beginning to envy my clone back home who will dissolve in a puddle of goo in about two days," said Tony.

4

If you think the queeen is bad now just wait till you her i future episodes. Hope you all the story, don't for get to comment.

Also the sanck bar wanted me to remind you that the large popcore is only 3 dollers more then the small. that means you get three extra cernals...ENJOY!


	4. Chapter 4: Grand Entrance

Once everything was ready to go and the servants who would be accompanying the King and Queen boarded Toon Force One, the pilot fired up the engines and zoomed out of the Toon Town atmosphere and into the black void of space. Not that you could really call outer space in Toon World a void. Toon Force One passed by all sorts of curious sights as it travelled to Dunwyn. There were other planets and star systems, of course, but also suburbs built within asteroid belts, drive-thru restaurant space stations, and uninhabited moons used as advertising space.

All this and more Tony saw through the windows of Toon Force One. This was not Tony's first trip though Toon space, but he still felt the thrill of sightseeing. He would have loved to stop, but the ship's pilot was under orders to fly as fast as possible to make up for the lost time caused by all the excessive luggage packing and family arguments.

Tony was actually glad that the trip would be pretty quick. The tension on board was thick enough to choke on. Tony, Jim, Mary, and Tom had been regulated by the Queen to the lounge area so that they'd be out of her sight as much as possible. The teenage heroes didn't mind since the ship's lounge had a huge 75" plasma screen television in front of comfortable leather armchairs. Shelves and cubbyholes along the room walls contained books, comics, video consoles, snacks, sports equipment – everything any teenager needed to have a good time. The only thing it didn't have was Penny.

The Queen's steward, Steven, had immediately ushered the princess Super Star up to the front seating area of the ship with her parents and had not been allowed to join the other Stars for the trip. It just felt wrong not to have Penny in the lounge with them; they could all feel it. Thus, Tony volunteered to go and check on Penny to see if she was okay. Jim and Mary warned Tony to leave well enough alone, but he just couldn't, especially when "well enough" wasn't really that good.

Tony cautiously poked his head out of the lounge door and looked up and down the aisle. There was no one in sight, so he slipped out and hurried quietly to the front of the ship. Tony wasn't sure why he was sneaking, but the Queen had wanted him out of the way and his previous encounter with her had given Tony the impression that the Queen was not a woman to cross. The only people he saw were two servants who strode purposely by and didn't even look his way. Tony was almost at the front seating area when he heard a stern female voice coming his way.

"…and make sure those dresses are given to King Gregor's royal seamstress as soon as we land. I don't want to be tripping over my own hem at the ball."

Uh, oh. Queen Bridget. Tony looked around, but there was no place to hide in the tight corridor. He briefly considered transforming to Toon Master and turning invisible or something, but that would take too long. Besides, the special effects budget for this series was thin enough as it is. The only option was to backtrack a few steps and slip into a storage closet.

In the darkness, Tony pressed his ear to the door. He heard a bunch of soft scratches – footsteps against the thick carpet – heading towards him, pass by the closet, and fade off down the hall. When he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore, Tony stepped into the empty hall again and moved on.

The front seating section of Toon Force One – the area usually reserved for royalty and the highest ranking dignitaries – put First Class to shame. Each seat was a couch big enough for two people to sit comfortably and had legroom to spare. Automatic drink dispensers were mounted on each armrest. Servants brought selections of delicious-looking meats, cheeses, and fruit from a buffet table while a string quartet serenaded the passengers.

"Wow!" Tony let out a soft whistle as he took in the splendor. He wouldn't mind travelling in here more often. And yet, despite the splendor, there was a definite feeling of loneliness in here, emphasized by the fact that the only person sitting here was Penny. The princess was slouching on the seat closest to the door, gloomily looking out the window at the stars rushing by.

Quite suddenly, Tony couldn't bear the thought of Penny being so depressed. Just the knowledge that she wasn't happy stirred something deep within him, although he couldn't put a name to it. Ever so quietly, Tony sat down next to Penny. She didn't even notice.

Tony cleared his throat to get his attention. "Huh hem."

Penny started and glanced over, eyes wide, at the noise. Her hand instinctively reached for a samurai sword at her belt that wasn't there. Seeing that it was just Tony, she relaxed, her eyes glazing over, and continued her window gazing.

"Hey there," said Tony cheerfully.

"Hey," said Penny halfheartedly.

"Beautiful out there, isn't it," stated Tony, nodding his head towards the window.

"Uh huh," said Penny.

"Looking for something in particular?" he asked tentatively.

"No," answered Penny.

Tony wasn't making any headway with these conversation starters. He'd have to think of some other way to draw Penny out of her funk. He remembered back to one of the few times his grandfather and grandmother had argued and Theodore had given Tony this advice about dealing with women: when in doubt, apologize.

"Listen, I just want you to know that I'm really sorry," said Tony in his most humble voice.

Penny turned to Tony with a confused look. "What are you sorry for?"

Darn it! Grandpa didn't tell Tony what to do if they came back with questions. He'd have to think fast. "Well….uh…I, uh." He'd have to think a little faster than that. "I just wanted to apologize for anything I had done…to upset you…about something I'd done."

Penny's confusion turned to suspicion. "Why? What did you do?"

Tony was taken aback and became defensive. "Nothing, nothing. I haven't done anything and no one could prove it was me anyway." Finally, he sighed and decided to come right out and say, "Look, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Penny's explosion of anger was unexpected. "I'm fine! I'd be even better if people would leave me alone for five minutes."

"Well, fine," said Tony, standing up. "Pardon me for caring. I'll just go back to the rear of the ship with the rest of the trash." He started to leave, but was held back when he felt Penny's hand grab his wrist.

"Tony, please wait." All trace of her anger was gone and her eyes begged forgiveness for her outburst. "I'm sorry. Please, don't go."

Although he was still a little hurt, Tony allowed himself to be pulled back down into the seat. "Well, I guess I could stay for a minute or two." At that moment, a servant came over with a plate from the buffet table. Tony thanked him and took the whole tray from him. "Or ten or twenty."

Penny watched as Tony stuffed down every h'ordeuvre on the plate. "Does did mean I'm forgiven?"

Tony thought about it as he helped himself to the drink dispenser. "Another couple of those little Swiss cheese croissant things and I'd be willing to consider it."

Penny shook her head and couldn't help but smile.

"Ah, that's better," said Tony, pointed at Penny's grin. "I like you when you smile." Tony quickly added, "Not that I don't like you when you don't smile, which is often. Not often that I don't like you, I mean it's often that you don't smile because you're so serious all the time. Which is good, it's a good thing, so…" Tony seemed to deflate as he hung his head in embarrassment. "Can I stop talking now?"

"I think that's a good idea." Instead of being angry again, as Tony had feared, Penny was smiling even wider. "I don't know what it is about you, Tony, but you always make me feel better, no matter what."

"I do what I can," said Tony proudly. For a few moments, the two friends just sat there staring and smiling at each other. Then, as if on cue, they both looked away, blushing with embarrassment as the silence turned awkward. "So, uh...," Tony cast about for some way to tactfully change the subject. "I guess I'm your escort to the Leader's Summit."

Penny's face fell and she started sounding depressed again. "Yeah, I guess so. At least it'll only be for the dinner and the ball."

Her reaction tempered Tony's enthusiasm a bit. "You don't seem too happy about that."

Penny looked aghast and quickly insisted that no insult was intended. "Oh no, Tony, it's not that I don't want you to escort me. I just don't like the idea of having an escort at all."

"Why not? That seems like the princessly thing to do."

"That's just it," said Penny bitterly. "An escort is just another way to get everyone to stare and gawk at the princess. It makes me feel like a show dog on parade."

"Not necessarily," said Tony.

"How's that?" asked Penny.

"Who says they'll be looking at you? No doubt all eyes will be on me during the dance when I break out my funky moves."

Penny raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Funky dance moves?"

Tony jumped off the seat and struck a pose. "Sure. You know, I am all the rage at school dances. I can hip hop, bebop, and dance till I drop." Tony let loose with a flurry of wild gestures, arm spasms, and can-can kicks that might have resembled dancing if you squinted and didn't look directly at him. Penny could only stare in disbelief. Whatever he was doing, he was certainly enthusiastic. So much so, that his legs flew out from under him and Tony fell to the floor.

"Tony, are you alright?" exclaimed Penny.

Tony slowly pulled himself up until his head crept back into view. He rested his chin on the couch armrest. "That, uh, that right there was a very advanced move. Takes years to learn."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," said Penny, holding back her laughter. "I'm sure it took you a long time to perfect falling down."

"Well, maybe I _am_ a little rusty," relented Tony. He stood up and brushed his clothes off.

"Maybe I could give you a few pointers before the dance," said Penny, "If, for no other reason, than to save my dignity."

Tony readily agreed. "That's fair enough."

"What are you doing in here?"

Tony and Penny both looked up to see that Queen Bridget had returned. The Queen was about average height, but in her anger, she seemed to tower over Tony.

"Hi there, Your Queenliness," said Tony in friendly voice.

"This area is for royals only," said the Queen. She raised her scepter threateningly. "No commoners allowed. Especially such poorly dressed ones."

Penny's mood changed in an instant. Her smile turned to a scowl and she proceeded to tell her own mother off. "Mother! I have asked you a hundred times not to insult my friends."

Queen Bridget shot back, "And I have asked you a hundred times not to make friends with people of a lower status than yourself."

Back and forth, mother and daughter argued, seemingly oblivious that Tony was still standing right next to them. He stood listening to the two of them for a few minutes. He thought maybe he should do something to break up the fight, but he didn't know what to do. It would have been useless anyway. Queen Bridget and Penny argued every time they were together and this fight was especially fierce. Not even the Toon Master had the power to stop it.

Finally, it became too embarrassing to remain in the same room. Tony muttered a goodbye to Penny – which he was sure she did not hear – and left as quietly as possible. He was halfway back to the lounge – and still able to make out the fading echoes of the royal quabble – when he bumped into King Magnus headed in the other direction.

"Oh, excuse me Your Highness."

"It's quite alright, Tony," said the King good-naturedly. "Have you seen Penny or the Queen?"

Tony hesitated before answering. "Yeah, I have. They're both in there," he said, pointed back towards the royal sitting area. "But, if I were you, Your Majesty, I wouldn't go in there. Penny's having a...disagreement with her mom."

The King nodded knowingly. "I had hoped they could at least wait until we reached Dunwyn, but I suppose that was asking too much. You know I don't like Penny being a Super Star, Tony, but as fiercely as Penny argues with me about that, it's nothing compared to the battles she has with her mother."

"What are they fighting about, anyway?" It probably wasn't any of Tony's business, but he couldn't hold back his curiosity.

"I think that would be something to discuss with Penny," said the King kindly. "But wait until she's ready to talk about it. It's a tender subject with her."

Tony nodded, unwilling to do anything to upset Penny further.

"_Attention, this is your captain speaking. We will be landing in Dunwyn in five minutes. Please put all trays, seats, and passengers in their upright positions." _

Tony headed off towards the lounge to prepare for landing when the King called him back. "Tony, a quick word with you, if you please." He lowered his voice to a confidential tone. "Tony, while we're in Dunwyn, I'd like you to keep your identity as Toon Master a secret."

Of all the things Tony had heard today, this stunned him the most. It was in an offended tone that he asked, "Why would I do that? Does this have something to do with you not wanting me to be Penny's escort?"

"No," said King Magnus quickly, but he was forced to correct himself. "I mean, it does, but it's not something you should take personally."

"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot."

The King had wanted to have this conversation with Tony earlier, but other duties had made that impossible. They didn't have much time now, but King Magnus realized that he may have insulted Tony and the young hero did deserve an explanation. "Tony, you are still relatively new to Toon World and your experience is more with high-minded heroes rather than with government representatives. The top priority of such people is often to gain as much power as possible for themselves and may or may not have the people's best interest at heart. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah, I do," said Tony, frowning. "This is gonna be some stupid political reason, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," confirmed the King. "You are still trying to grasp the concept that cartoon characters in real life do not necessarily act as you've seen them on Earth television. A Toon you think as kind may simply be scheming for power. If they do not know you are the Toon Master, they cannot influence you to serve their needs. Remember, the purpose of the Toon Master is to be above all that and work for the good of all Toons."

"But won't the leaders at the summit already know who I am?" countered Tony. "They must know about Grandpa's death and that a new Toon Master was chosen."

King Magnus raised a finger to emphasize his point. "Yes, but they have never seen you in person. Even if they have seen your picture on the news or from spy surveillance, they'd most likely not recognize you outside of your transformed state." The King bent down and placed his hand on Tony's shoulder in a fatherly manner. "You must trust me, Tony. I say these things for your own good. So, I'll ask again: will you keep your identity secret?"

Now, as a hero, Tony really shouldn't have had a problem going along with the King's request. After all, nearly every hero had a secret identity. It came with job. Still, Tony's suspicions were raised. He did trust the King, who seemed like a wise and kind ruler himself. However, Tony could not shake the feeling that King Magnus was trying to manipulate him just as he said the other rulers would.

After a moment of reflection, Tony decided it really didn't matter and shrugged the whole thing off. _It must come with being a leader_, he thought. _You just can't help keeping as much power as you can in your own court._ Let them scheme amongst themselves, he didn't care.

"All right, Your Majesty," Tony said. "I won't tell anybody I'm Toon Master." Granting the King's request had more to do with respect for the royal family and trying to create as little trouble as possible for Penny's sake than agreeing with the King's reasoning.

King Magnus visibly relaxed and he smiled broadly. "Thank you, Tony. I appreciate that."

"But, if there's any trouble, don't expect me to be hiding under the table," Tony said, a bit of anger leaking back into his voice. "I'll be out there kicking its butt."

"I would expect nothing less," the King said to appease the young boy.

"_We will be landing in Dunwyn in one minute. All kings and super powered teenagers should be in their seats. NOW!"_

Convinced that he and King Magnus had settled the matter, Tony gave a mock salute goodbye and ran back to the lounge. Jim, Mary, and Tom had already secured themselves for the landing. They watched Tony slip into a seat by the window and press his face against the glass like a five year old on his first plane trip.

As Toon Force One slowly descended through the atmosphere, every detail of Dunwyn came into view. Tony's eyes were automatically drawn to Dunwyn castle: a mighty fortress of brick and stone surrounded by a crystal blue moat. With its towers and turrets it reminded Tony of the Toon Palace, but then he supposed that most castles all looked the same. The one difference was that Dunwyn castle was significantly larger since it was an entire city rather than just a home for royals. It was beautifully situated in a valley surrounded by purple mountains and sprawling green fields. Thick, leafy forests were blankets thrown over the landscape.

Tony knew that deep within one of those forests lived the Gummi Bears – small, colorful bears; decedents of a civilization far more advanced than the Dunwyn of today, but now thought to be a mere legend. Hardly anybody in Toon World believed that the Gummi Bears had once been real, not even the Super Stars. Tony had questioned them before they had left, but each Star assured Tony that Gummi Bears were nothing but the stuff of children's stories.

Thoughts of Gummi Bears flew out of Tony's head as he noticed the convoy of spaceships already parked outside Dunwyn's gates. Many of the worlds in the Disney Sector did not have their own spaceports, so they had to use public transportation. Such ships were painted a dull brown or tan color with no personal markings to indicate where they had come from or who was on board. All Tony could see was a line of text across the ships advertising the Peter Pan Space Bus line. (Okay, seriously, who didn't see that coming?) There was one ship, however, whose owner was painfully obvious. It was smaller than most of the others and more colorful with coats of paint overlapping each other, as if three people with different ideas had worked on it. Flying from the ship's tail was a blue flag with three black circles arranged into a very familiar silhouette.

"That's King Mickey's ship," Mary said when she noticed where Tony was looking. "He rules over the entire Disney Sector, so he'll be Master of Ceremonies for the Leader's Summit this year."

Toon Force One glided gently down into a reserved space apart from the other ships. Dunwyn knights immediately began to push back the assembled crowds of commoners who had gathered at what might be their only chance to see Toons from other planets. Once the command was given to leave the ship, Tony paused only long enough to hide the Toon Sword in his Max-Pack before shooting down the exit ramp. The other Super Stars went with him, following closely by a squad of royal guards, all carefully scouting the area in order to remove any threats before the royal family of Toon World exited the ship. Tony did that too, but he wasn't scouting so much as sightseeing.

The first people Tony recognized were the beggar-boy turned prince, Aladdin, and his wife, Jasmine, Princess of the desert kingdom of Agrabah. The sultan, a short, pudgy man in white robes, followed behind, tripping over his own feet in his haste. Standing next to Jasmine was Cinderella, a princess who started out as a peasant. Her bright yellow hair was shining in the sunlight and her sparkling blue dress looked like a cone of stars surrounding her. Holding her hand was her dapper husband, Prince Charming with his kingly father and the Grand Duke bringing up the rear.

Next up was Snow White and her own Prince Charming (a popular name among the royalty). The Seven Dwarfs – Doc, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Dopey – marched behind them carrying chests filled with glittering jewels from their mine. Lumbering above all of them was the Beast, a huge, hairy creature who was actually a prince under a spell. Beast growled threateningly at the assembled crowd gawking at him. They backed away terrified, but unable to stop staring. The Beast's companion, Belle – an amazingly beautiful girl in a flowing yellow dress – laid a tender hand upon her friend's arm. As Beast gazed into Belle's eyes, his rage subsided and they continued on to the castle. Behind this mismatched couple was what looked like a bunch of silverware, dishes, and assorted knick-knacks. These were the Beast's servants; once human, but now also under a spell.

"Come on, come on, you can stare later," said Jim as he pushed Tony on the back and ushered him into Dunwyn Castle.

The inside of the castle was as crowded as the outside. Tony now began to see Toons from other Sectors and these Toons were far less welcome to his eyes. Among them was Long Feng from the Avatar's world, head of the Dai Li, the elite group of bodyguards to the Earth Kingdom. Tony could overhear him say that he was standing in for the busy Earth King; more likely he was seeking allies to help him overthrow the government and rule the Earth Kingdom. There was David Xanatos and his girlfriend (or was it wife?), Fox. Xanatos was a brilliant inventor and the owner of a technology company that spanned across entire star systems. He was also a dabbler in the arcane arts. All that money and power only leaves him wanting more. And topping off Tony's I-can't-believe-he-was-invited list was Lex Luthor. Like Xanatos, Luthor was brilliant, rich, and had his hands in more dirty deals than a mobster convention.

These were the kind of villains Tony hated the most: the kind that hid behind an innocent face and did all their dastardly deeds in secret. If they were going to be evil, the least they could do was be honest about it. Tony glanced at his friends. They didn't seem as concerned as he was. He thought he should do something about the evil investing this summit, but he didn't know how to keep his Toon Master self secret at the same time.

Tony was saved from his dilemma by the official announcement of the royal family.

"Now presenting, their Royal Majesties King Magnus Illistra, Queen Brigit Illistra, and their daughter Princess Penny Illistra."

All heads turned towards the castle gates where the King and Queen, magnificently decked out in their best robes, strode slowly and serenely into the courtyard amid a flourish of bows and curtsies. Behind them was Penny, dressed in a Victorian style pink gown. Her hair was done up in an intricate bun with a silver tiara nestled snuggly within. She walked through the courtyard like her parents, waving politely and flashing a nice, wide smile. It was a fake smile, though; the kind that says "I don't want to be here, but it'll be worse if I don't act like I do".

King Gregor, the ruler of Dunwyn, came over to personally welcome them. An older, but physically fit man, Gregor wore robes of deep purple trimmed with spotted fur. An unadorned gold crown sat upon his white hair.

"Magnus, my old friend. Good to see you well," said Gregor as he and King Magnus gave each other a warm handshake. Then, Gregor took the Queen's hand, kissed it, and said, "Queen Bridget, always a pleasure. You look as ravishing as ever."

The Queen let out a small trill of laughter. "Oh, King Gregor, you're such a flatterer." It was the first time since Tony met the Queen that she hadn't said something rude. Other royalty obviously got better treatment.

Hurried footsteps behind Gregor signaled the arrival of Princess Calla, his daughter. Calla was about Penny's age with blond hair cascading down the back of an elegant blue dress. At the sight of Calla, the princess' fake smile melted into a sincere one. Ignoring the adults, Calla rushed up and gave her friend a big hug which Penny returned in kind.

"Oh, Penny, I'm so glad you came," said Calla, practically jumping for joy at their reunion. "I've have lots to tell you and I can't wait to hear what's new with you.

"Ahem, Calla?" said King Gregor, his voice rising a bit. "Don't you think you should greet our other guests?" He covertly motioned towards King Magnus and Queen Bridget.

"What? Oh, yes, of course." Calla composed herself and dipped into a dainty curtsey. "It is a pleasure to welcome Your Majesties to our kingdom."

Queen Bridget looked annoyed at having been ignored, even briefly. Before she could say anything, King Magnus interrupted and thanked Calla for the warm reception.

As King Gregor led Penny's parents indoors, Calla leaned close to her friend and whispered, "You know you look ridiculous in that dress, right?"

Penny pulled at the ribbons and wire frame of the dress, but they would not yield. "Tell me about it," she agreed."

"Father's been an absolute wreck getting the castle ready for the summit," reported Calla. "It's been hard to find any time for myself."

Penny felt she could one-up Calla's hardships. "At least you didn't have to suffer through the trip here," she said, looking very pointedly at her mother's back.

Calla noticed. "The usual argument? You can tell me all about it later." One reason why Calla and Penny got along so well was that, like Penny, Calla felt that the image of a helpless, delicate princess was not for her. Her father might not know it, but Calla often snuck out of the palace to practice archery, swordsmanship, and other activities forbidden to princesses. She was an excellent athlete and could already out-joust and out-shoot most of the squires training to be knights.

Tony and the Stars were about to follow everyone inside when a slight commotion back by the entrance caught their attention. Several of the Dunwyn castle servants were helping to unload Toon Force One, including a young page who was trying to carry five bags at once. Tony sympathized with him.

"Careful now. Look sharp." Sir Tuxford was a red-haired knight loyal to King Gregor who always wore full body armor. When asked, he'd tell you that he was ready to do battle at a moment's notice, but in most cases, the spirit was definitely more willing than the flesh. Right now, he was supervising the unloading of the visiting dignitaries' luggage. He turned towards the boy with five bags and said, "Cavin, get those to guest room #12 right away."

"Yes, Sir Tuxford," came the haggard reply. Cavin struggled under the weight of the bags and was having trouble seeing where he was going. He tripped, falling hard onto the ground and spilling the content of the suitcases everywhere.

"Oh, no," moaned Cavin as he looked around at the expensive silk and lace material lying in the dirt.

"Ha ha, you outta pay more attention, Cavin." The page looked up into the face of Unwyn - a taller, older, meaner squire relaxing against a pile of crates. He made no move to help Cavin up. "You were carrying too many bags. Next time, try not to do so much at once."

Cavin started to gather up the clothes. "You'd be the expert at not doing much," he muttered under his breath.

"Get that mess cleaned up, lad, on the double," shouted Sir Tuxford.

"Right away, Sir," said Cavin. He scrambled to obey, aware that everyone nearby was now looking at him. The young page could feel his face turning red in embarrassment.

Queen Bridget's face was turning red too, but in anger. "That lowly peasant is ruining my evening wear."

"Don't worry, Bridget," said King Magnus. He was eager to avoid any more angry outbursts. "I'm sure everything can be salvaged."

"I'd be happy to have every garment washed and pressed for you," offered King Gregor.

As both kings were doing their best to mollify Queen Bridget, Princess Calla seemed much more interested in Cavin. She felt so bad watching him scrounging around on the ground. She wanted to go and help him, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked up to see her father giving her a silent, but stern warning to stay where she was. Calla didn't like it, but she stayed put. She knew what her father would have said: "A princess does not crawl around in the dirt."

Meanwhile, Unwyn wasn't done torturing Cavin. He had noticed Queen Bridget's anger and felt the need to inform everyone about it. "Uh oh, Cavin, looks like you got the Queen of Toon World herself upset," he said loudly. "She might rescind your invitation to the dance tomorrow night. Just as well. You'd probably fall all over those two left feet of yours. Ha Ha!"

Cavin's own anger was burning inside him. He glanced at Unwyn's outstretched legs and said, "Maybe my feet aren't the ones I should worry about."

Unwyn's expression darkened. He grabbed Cavin and hoisted the young page onto his feet. "Just what are you accusing me of, Pipsqueak," he said into Cavin's frightened face. Cavin was no coward, but Unwyn was older and bigger than him.

"He's saying that you're the one who tripped him." Both Unwyn and Cavin turned to see Tony stomping over to them. His scowl was as dark as Unwyn's. "I'd think that'd be obvious even to you."

Cavin fell on his rump as Unwyn dropped him and turned to face this other nobody who had dared to stand up to him. Like Cavin, Tony was at least a head shorter than Unwyn, but that didn't scare him. Back home, he was used to staring down the McClap brothers, both of whom were giants.

This was different though. On Earth, he was just scrawny little Tony – a nothing freshmen who had no real defense against bullies. But here, in Toon World, he had the power to stand up for himself and others. That thought flooded his mind with confidence and he found himself rapidly forgetting his promise to King Magnus.

The two teenagers stood toe to toe looking into each other's eyes, their muscles tense. Unwyn flexed his fists, itching to strike at Tony, but, showing the true cowardice of bullies, he stayed his hand since he was unsure exactly who Tony was. That didn't stop him from saying in a very threatening voice, "You aughta learn some respect, small fry."

"And you should stop picking on people weaker than you, punk," countered Tony.

"The little squirt wants to be a knight." Unwyn pointed to Cavin who was still on the ground trying to pick up the luggage he dropped. "I'm just trying to toughen him up." Without warning, Unwyn kicked Cavin in the side. The young page grunted and fell over, clutching his ribs.

"Knock it off!" Tony shoved Unwyn so hard the brute fell over with an astonished look on his face. By now, the two fighting teens had managed to attract the attention of everyone in the courtyard. The Super Stars, minus Penny, had appeared beside Tony, ready to give help if it was needed. Penny longed to join them, Queen Bridget was bursting with indignation at such a juvenile display, and King Magnus was suddenly wishing he had stayed home.

Face red with embarrassment, Unwyn picked himself up and got right into Tony's face. He stood on tiptoe so that he was towered as high as possible over the young hero. "Who do you think you are to do that to the bravest, strongest squire in Dunwyn?"

It was just too much to take. It was sickening listening to Unwyn lie about how great he was. His father, the psychiatrist, would have called it Bottled Up Anger Syndrome or something. Tony wanted knock that blowhard down a peg or three. Besides, Unwyn smelled like something a dog had rolled it.

Anyway, those were the excuses Tony would use later to explain what he said next. He puffed out his chest with pride, planted his hands on his hips and said, "I think I'm the Toon Master, that's who!"

As soon as those words were out of Tony's mouth, there was a collective gasp of astonishment from the surrounding crowd. Unwyn's smug face turned to stark horror as he realized he had been insulting the most powerful hero in Toon World. That gave Tony an immense sense of satisfaction for about two seconds. Then he realized what he had just said and that every world leader present had heard his announcement. Cringing, he glanced back at King Magnus. The old king just shook his head in disappointment.

Tony felt horrible that he had broken his promise not to tell anyone about being Toon Master. He tried to make up for it. In a voice loud enough to carry across the courtyard, Tony said, "Ha Ha! I'm not really the Toon Master. I was just pulling your leg, Unwyn old buddy. You know, trying to impress you."

"But, you said you were." said Cavin, almost hopefully.

"No no," insisted Tony. "I meant to say I'm Tony Masters. Yeah, that's my name, Tony Masters."

"Masters?" David Xanatos cut through the gathering crowd and looked down at Tony. His dark eyes were calculating and cut through Tony like a knife. "As in Theodore Masters, the previous Toon Master? He's a relative of yours?" Others in the crowd were now examining Tony's face and nodding that, yes, he did look a bit like Theodore.

"No, no, he's not," Tony said frantically. "I mean yes, he was Toon Master, but no, I'm not related to him. My name isn't Masters. You didn't let me finished before. My full name is Masters…opolopogusinskyoversmith." Everyone kept staring at him, so Tony was compelled to add, "It's Swedish."

Xanatos looked doubtful. "Swedish?"

"Ya," said Tony in a terrible accent. "You betcha."

Jim leaned in close and said, "Smooth recovery."

Most of the other world leaders didn't seem totally appeased by this explanation. With King Gregor in the lead, they made their way into the meeting chambers, muttering amongst themselves. Only Xanatos stayed behind to give Tony one more critical appraisal. "Well, it was good to meet you, Mr. ." With a knowing smile, he turned his back on the group of teenagers and rejoined the crowd. Unwyn and Cavin also left to attend to their duties.

When they were alone, Tony sighed in relief and addressed his friends. "I'm glad I was able to cover up that little slip of the tongue."

"Are you insane?" Tony recoiled as Penny marched up and let out her own anger. "You don't think anyone actually believed that nonsense, do you? Now everyone at the Leader's Summit will know the Toon Master is here."

Tony didn't know what to say. She was right, of course. His first diplomatic mission and he had blown it. He just wasn't cut out for politics. He tried to apologize to King Magnus, but the King held up his hand to forestall Tony.

"It's alright, Tony," said the King. "It was bound to come out in the open sooner or later. Best to deal with it as soon as possible, I suppose." He looked back at the open doors of the meeting chambers where the last of the leaders had disappeared into. "There's going to be a staggering amount of questions to answer. Perhaps it would be best, Tony, if you stayed away from the castle for a while."

"Sounds good," said Tony, glad that the King wasn't mad at him.

"I've been to Dunwyn before. I could give you a tour of the countryside," offered Mary. Tony readily accepted.

Jim looked around at the courtyard where dozens of souvenir and vender kiosks were being erected. The citizens of Dunwyn and the servants that had accompanied the world leaders mingled around, eager to spend the cash they had saved up all year for this.

"I think I'll stay here," decided Jim. "I'd have a look around. You know, start scouting for potential threats to the summit."

"You mean you'd like to look around for that girl with the pretzel stand that always sells at the Leader's Summit," said Mary in a teasing voice.

"This is the year when I will win her heart," Jim announced triumphantly.

"I think I'll go with you, Jim," said Tom.

"Uh, Tom," said Jim, "I'd really rather be alone when I talk to the pretzel girl."

"Great," said Tom happily. "When we get there, I'll stand guard and make sure no one bothers you."

Jim hung his head, resigned to Tom tagging along. "Alright, let's go. Oh, by the way." Jim looked carefully at his watch. "The official time was three minutes and fifteen seconds."

"Official time?" Tony didn't know what Jim was talking about.

Mary jumped up and down and shouted, "Yahoo! I won the pool!"

"The what?" Now Tony was really confused.

"Come on, come on, pay up." Mary held out her hands to Jim, Tom, and Penny who all gave her five dollar bills.

"What the heck is going on?" asked Tony.

"We all bet on how long it would take you to tell someone you were the Toon Master," said Tom bluntly.

"Wait. You guys bet on me?"

"Yeah," confirmed Jim. "I can't believe I lost. Serves me right for being generous, I guess. I figured you'd last at least five minutes."

Tony turned to Mary and said, "YOU bet on me? That I'd blab?"

Mary didn't meet Tony's gaze. She was the only one in the group that looked at all ashamed. "Pretty much. Sorry."

"Forget sorry," said Tony. "Why didn't you tell me about this? I could've gotten in on the action."

"Tony, you'd better be going," said King Midas. "I need to get back to the meeting room."

Tony and Mary headed for the castle gates while Jim and Tom made their way over to the growing crowd of citizens. Penny started for the meeting room doorway. King Magnus was just about to follow her when he felt a tap on his arm.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty?" It was Mary.

The King looked at her smiling face for a moment, then turned away and quietly put his own five dollar bill in her outstretched hand.

"Thank you very much."

9


	5. Chapter 5: Secrets in the Woods

**While King Magnus tried to smooth things over with the visiting dignitaries, Mary took Tony into the forest, far from the castle and any prying eyes. Little did they know that they were not as alone as they thought.**

The atmosphere in the forests of Dunwyn was one of peace and tranquility, in stark contrast to the tension felt in the castle. Birds tweeted hello to each other as they flitted from branch to branch. The gentle breeze danced between the leaves. Sunlight was shining down in golden rays through holes in the canopy. The entire effect made the forest seem a sacred place, but one that welcomed visitors.

Tony stood tall on an old stump, his face turned towards the sky, a joyful smile upon his face. He spread his arms wide and breathed in the very energy of the forest itself.

"It's so beautiful here." He spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb the spell of contentment the woods was casting over him. "There's nothing like this place back home."

Mary, who was sitting on the ground, lying against a tree, laughed. "Surely they have forest on Earth, Tony?"

Tony didn't bother to open his eyes as he answered. "Not like this. In Toon World I feel so happy...so complete. I never felt that way back home. On Earth, it was always like something was missing."

"It's your Toon heritage," said Mary. "It keeps drawing you back."

Tony took another deep breath and said, "Thanks for taking me out here, Mary. Being away from the castle helps me forget my nervousness."

"What are you nervous about?"

"About the Leader's Summit." Tony jumped off the stump and joined his friend under the tree. "Just being around the King of Toon World can be intimidating enough; now I'll be surrounded by royals. I'm..." It was difficult for Tony to admit, but finally he said, "I'm afraid I'll do something wrong like starting a World War by offending someone."

"You, Tony Masters, are afraid?" Mary was genuinely surprised that he felt this way. "The great Toon Master is scared? You've faced down powerful villains without flinching."

"This isn't a battle, Mary," Tony said, a little indignantly. "I can't just punch everybody out and call it a day." He quickly turned to Mary and asked, "Can I?"

Mary laughed again. "No, you certainly cannot." She thought a moment and said, "I don't think you have anything to be nervous about, Tony, but if you're really that worried, maybe I can give you a few pointers on high class etiquette."

"Really? Oh man, that would be awesome. Thanks so much, Mary."

And so, Mary began to tutor Tony on the ins and outs of high society. They concentrated on how Tony should act during the fancy dinner scheduled for that night. It wasn't really that hard. According to Mary, everyone attending was expected to be on their best behavior. Tony's table manners were already pretty good; his mother had made sure of that. All he had to do was tone down the goofing off and he was set. Oh, and Mary warned him that no one was going to be impressed with his ability to burp the alphabet backwards. Too bad; it was a real crowd pleaser back home.

Next, Mary moved on to explaining the different ranks of royalty and nobility. This was less interesting to Tony and he had to struggle to stay awake as Mary explained the different between counts and viscounts, barons and baronets, dukes and earls (not to be confused with the Duke of Earl). She was just getting to Grand Dukes (or Great Danes or something like that) when both teenagers heard a loud crunching noise coming from close by.

Moving silently, Tony and Mary crotched behind some bushes and carefully pulled apart a gap so they could see through them. Tony had to stifle a gasp as a huge monster filled his vision. It was tall; ten feet high, at least. Its skin was a deep purple with two tuffs of lilac hair that looked like shoulder pads. Short claws extended out from its thick fingers. Its face was brutish and dim-witted. It wore a simple tunic and a metal cap sat between two bat-like ears. Before long, a second creature appeared, looking just like the first, except for yellow skin and hair.

Tony recognized these kinds of monster immediately and apparently, so did Mary. "Those are ogres," she whispered. "They're not allowed in Dunwyn; vicious, evil beasts. They come from..."

"Drekmore," Tony finished for her. "They work for Duke Igthorn." The teenagers fell silent as they watched the two ogres roughly stomping through the forest. Their heads twisted this way and that. They squinted with their beady eyes. Their large nostrils flared, as if trying to find a scent.

"Their looking for something," Mary reasoned, more to herself than to Tony.

"Probably Gummi Bears," said Tony.

Mary let out a frustrated breath and said, "Tony, Gummi Bears are pure myth. We told you that."

Tony acted as if he had not heard Mary. "We can't let them find the Bears." He slowly reached into his Max-Pack. The hilt of the Toon Sword was just emerging when Mary clamped her hand on Tony's wrist.

"What are you doing?" Mary hissed.

Tony nodded to the ogres and said, "Stopping them. Even if you don't think Gummi Bears are real, you said it yourself, ogres are not allowed in Dunwyn. We have to get rid of them."

"It's bad enough you're cover has been blown," Mary said, jerking her thumb back in the direction of Castle Dunwyn. "If the leaders find out you've been out here fighting, it'll only make the situation worse."

Tony could not believe that Mary was still worried about politics. "It thought we were supposed to keep the summit safe," he whispered heatedly.

"And part of that job is to do it as quietly as possible," Mary shot back. "Knowledge of a fight will worry the diplomats and undermine the negotiations."

Tony stared hard at Mary for a moment, but he reluctantly put the Town Sword away. "Well, what do you propose we do?"

Motioning for Tony to stay put, Mary leapt into the branches of a nearby tree and made sure she was hidden from the ogres' sight. She cleared her throat a couple of times in an effort to make her voice deeper and rougher. "What do..._What do_...What do you idiots think you're doing?" Not a bad imitation of Duke Igthorn.

They snapped to attention when they heard their boss's voice. They looked around, confused. "Dukey, is that you?"

"Of course it's me," Mary boomed as Tony covered a laugh at the ogres' reactions. "Get back to Drekmore on the double!"

"But, Dukey," said the purple one, "You tell us not to come back to Drekmore without..."

"Never mind that," interrupted Mary. "You get back to Castle Drekmore right now or I'll make you take a bath every night for the next month!"

The ogres clung to each other in horror. "No, not a bath!" Without looking back, they sprinted out of the forest and away from Dunwyn.

Tony emerged from his hiding place and watched Mary nimbly jump down from the tree. "Not bad," he complemented her. "Do you do birthday parties?"

In her real voice, Mary said, "Not anymore after that Pin the Tail on the Donkey incident." In a more serious tone she said, "We should call in and tell the others about the ogres.

Nodding in agreement, Tony brought his arm up to activate his wrist communicator. He paused when he saw something on the ground that glittered in the sunlight. It was a round golden medallion attached to a long red ribbon. A bear's head was carved on it. An ornate letter G stood out in the middle.

"This is a Gummi medallion," exclaimed Tony, practically shoving the trinket in Mary's face. "Gummi Bears use this to perform magic. See, see, I told you they were real."

Mary looked decidedly uncomfortable next to Tony's enthusiasm. She backed away a step and took a moment to respond. "That...that thing...It doesn't prove anything, Tony. It's probably just a fake. The marketplace is filled with junk like that."

This cynical attitude had Tony baffled. It was not like Mary to so readily dismiss evidence like this or to doubt Tony's cartoon knowledge.

"Come on, let's get back to the castle," Mary said quickly and she hurried off, but stopped since Tony wasn't following her. He was just standing there with a big grin on his face. It had suddenly all become clear.

"You've met the Gummi Bears, haven't you?"

Mary's face turned beet red. She turned half way away from Tony and protested in a weak voice, "No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have," sung Tony. "That's why you've been trying to convince me that they don't exist. You're protecting them."

Mary rounded on Tony and said, "I am not and I haven't met a Gummi Bear."

"Yes, you have."

"No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have."

"No, I haven't."

"No, you haven't."

"Yes, I have." Mary clamped her hands against her mouth and her eyes bugged out as she realized what she said. She slumped in defeat. "I can't believe I fell for that."

"I knew it," crowed Tony. "I knew you met them."

"Be quiet," Mary shushed Tony. She looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Technically, I haven't actually met any of them. Last time I was in Dunwyn, I was exploring and came across a grove of bushes with some very tasting multi-colored berries."

"Gummi berries," Tony said.

"I was picking a few for lunch when I heard something coming. I hid behind the bushes and saw a bear half my size with blue fur wearing a tunic, sandals, and a red hat. He was being chased by two ogres – a red one and a green one. I wanted to help the bear, so I got ahead of the ogres and set a trip wire trap for them." Mary smiled at the memory. "They spent the afternoon hanging upside down from a branch. I was careful not to let them or the bear see me."

"This bear, was he pretty fat?" asked Tony eagerly.

Mary looked reproachfully. "That's a horrible thing to ask, Tony. But since you brought it up, he could've stood to lose a few pounds."

"That was Tummi Gummi," said Tony, snapping his fingers. "He's one of the Gummi Glen Gummies."

"Gummi Glen?" asked Mary.

"It's this big tree and a whole system of underground rooms and tunnels right here in the forest," explained Tony. "That's where the Gummies live."

"Then, you were right. Those ogres must have been searching for Gummi Glen," Mary said thoughtfully.

Waving his hand dismissively, Tony said, "They'll never find it. Igthorn's been looking for it for years."

"Maybe." Mary's voice held a twinge of doubt. "But, I don't like the fact that two ogres were in the woods on the day of the Leader's Summit. What if there are more lurking around? We'd better have a look."

"Yes!" said Tony, pumping his arm in the air. "We're going to find the Gummi Bears." Then, Tony's excitement deflated somewhat as he realized, "But, I don't know where Gummi Glen is. I've never been to Dunwyn before."

"I don't know where it is either," said Mary. "But, I remember where the Gummi berry bushes are. That's as good a place as any to start looking."

3


	6. Chapter 6:Super Stars in the City

**As Mary and Tony searched for the secret hiding place of the Gummi Bears, Jim was on his own quest back at Dunwyn.**

The good people of Dunwyn had waited for this day with baited breath ever since it was announced that their humble country would play host to royalty and dignitaries from across the Sector. It was an honor and a privilege that many thought they would not see in their lifetimes. Peasants, farmers, craftsman, knights and aristocrats alike gathered together, seeking that one thing on this one day that would bind them together as equals, as brothers: wasting their money at the souvenir shops.

All through the streets of Dunwyn, carts and kiosks popped up, ready to sell all manner of knick knacks, do dads, and thingamabobs. You could buy an official Leader's Summit feathered cap, a king-sized travel mug filled with three different flavors of mead, or the ever popular honorary knight's chest plate with the engraving: I went to the Leader's Summit and all I got was this lousy chest plate.

Jim and Tom, however, had wandered over to the food stands. Jim had spent all morning trying to find the pretzel stand where he had met that cute girl before. He hadn't found her yet, but he wasn't about to let that depress him, especially since there was a lot of other stands with pretty girls working at them. Right now he was at Puffs-A-Lot's fried dough stand trying to chat up the girl behind the counter.

Flashing his best you-can-trust-me smile, Jim leaned casually against the wooden cart and looked the serving girl in the eyes. "After you get off work, how about I take you on a personal tour of Toon Force One? I'm pretty tight with the Toon World King. You know, the guy with the crown?"

The girl's only reply was to blow powdered sugar into Jim's face and walk off, throwing a nasty look over her shoulder at the Super Star.

Coughing and rubbing the sugar out of his eyes, Jim turned to Tom and said, with unwavering confidence, "She is so into me."

Tom looked at Jim skeptically and said, "Oh yeah, I can see that."

"She's just being coy," insisted Jim, brushing the sugar from his clothes. "She'll be back any second now to profess her love."

"Maybe she sent him to deliver the message." Tom pointed over Jim's shoulder at a very large man wearing a dirty white apron, tattered chef's hat and carrying a long, sharp-looking knife in his hand.

The man spoke in a rough, vulgar voice. "Are youse the ones bothering me little girl?"

"ULP!" Jim quickly pushed Tom around the corner, away from the fried dough stand. "Well, she wasn't really my type anyway."

"Looks like you struck out again."

Jim rounded on Tom and said, "That wasn't striking out. That was just practice."

"Oh, really?" asked Tom with raised eyebrows.

"Yes," said Jim defiantly. "I just wanted to try out a few new lines."

"And those other eleven girls who shot you down were..."

"Practice!" Jim calmed himself before continuing. "I need at least a dozen tries before I get my mojo working; before I'm really warmed up."

"That's funny," said Tom. "I would have thought you'd be plenty warmed up after that sixth girl dumped that pot of boiling water on your..."

"Alright, there's no need to go into that," Jim interrupted loudly. "You know I'm saving all my charm for the pretzel stand girl."

"Who we've been looking for all day," whined Tom. "Can't we give up, Jim. All this rejection is making me hungry and you've already gotten us alienated from most of the food stands in the castle."

"Just a couple more minutes, I promise," assured Jim. He and Tom made their way down another street, being careful to avoid anymore fried dough stands, when Jim smacked Tom on the shoulder and said. "Look, a pretzel stand!" He was practically squealing like a teenage girl.

As Jim rushed towards the stand and Tom followed reluctantly behind, neither hero saw, from the other side of the street, a single, scrawny, tattered Arabian man, also approaching the pretzel stand. He wore loose clothes with many patches and tears. His dark skin was made all the darker by a layer of dirt. His thin black beard crept up his cheeks to a tightly wrapped turban.

The dark skinned man, one Amin Damoola by name, was slinking, hugging the walls, moving quickly, but being careful to avoid detection. Amin Damoola was a petty thief from Agrabah, drawn to Dunwyn by the allure of hundreds of tourists and nobles flocking to attend the Leader's Summit with unguarded wallets and purses. A clever and crafty thief could make quite a haul from this one weekend alone.

The only trouble was, Amin was not clever or crafty. In fact, he was quite clumsy. In the short distance between the corner of one building to another, Damoolah managed to trip over a bucket, his own feet, a stray dog, his own feet, a broken wagon axle, his own feet yet _again_, and a loose brick in the street.

Finally, Damoolah tumbled against an unmanned pretzel stand. The same pretzel stand that Jim and Tom were heading towards, although Damoolah didn't know that. He kept low, crouching behind the counter. His eyes widened with glee as he spied a metal cash box safely tucked away next to the napkins.

"Oh, Damoolah, you're on your way to Easy Street," the thief crooned to himself.

It wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. One try of the cashbox's handle proved that it was locked up tight. However, every thief – even one like Damoolah – carries a few tools for just such a situation. Damoolah reached into his shirt and pulled out a crowbar, which he wedged under the lid of the cashbox and pushed. He strained and struggled, but it was no use; the lid didn't budge.

Undeterred, Damoolah pulled out a knife. He tried to slice open his prize, but that cashbox was apparently made of stronger stuff than the knife. The blade snapped right in two.

Now, the inept thief was starting to get mad. Time to pull out the big guns. Damoolah took out his ACME Inferno Series welding torch and brought the heat down on that stubborn cashbox. He pounded that metal box with everything that torch had until it seemed like the entire cart would catch flame. After the smoke cleared, Damoolah stared in depressed shock as the cashbox remained unharmed.

"I'm a complete failure," wailed Damoolah. He threw down his tools and banded his fist against the cashbox.

With a sharp click, the lid of the cashbox snapped open. Damoolah's eyes sparkled as he gazed longingly at the silver and gold coins piled neatly inside the box. "Come to Damoolah, my beauties."

"Hello?"

Damoolah froze, his hand hovering a hair's width above the coins. The voice was coming from above him, from the other side of the counter. The thief rose up slowly and peeked ever so carefully over the counter top.

Jim was leaning over the counter, looking for whoever was supposed to be running it. Tom hurried up alongside him. Damoolah ducked back down before either boy saw him. His triumphant euphoria had turned to overwhelming fear. The clumsy thief recognized Jim and Tom as Super Stars from their magazine photos. Villain's Quarterly had listed the Stars in their "Top Ten Super Hero Teams to Run Away From".

"Hello?" called Jim. "Is anyone back there?"

Damoolah looked to his left and right for an escape route. Both ways were clear, but the two teenagers would surely spot him if he tried to make a run for it. That left only one other option. Besides carrying tools for breaking open cashboxes, a good thief always carried a disguise or two. Damoolah reached into his pocket and pulled out...a dirty blonde wig. He tried all his other pockets, but that seemed to be all he had. Well, it was better than nothing. Damoolah removed his turbine, briefly revealing a head of very short black hair, before becoming a long haired blonde.

"Jim," whined Tom. "There's nobody here; let's go. I'm still hungry."

Both boys jerked in surprise as Damoolah popped out from behind the counter. The thief was careful to turn away so they could not see his face, so Jim was forced to talk to Damoolah's backside.

"Well, hi there," Jim said in the same smooth voice he'd been using all day.

"H-hello," said Damoolah in a high squeaky voice.

"I've been looking all over Dunwyn for you."

The Super Stars had been looking for him? Damoolah was panicking up a storm now. "Really? Y-you have?"

Jim wasn't noticing Damoolah's nervous behavior. He was fully convinced that this was the pretzel girl he had been searching for and was determined to get a date. "I saw you at the last Leader's Summit. Our eyes only met for a moment, but it was enough."

"No, no, I was never at the Leader's Summit last year," insisted Damoolah. "I have never been to a summit. I'm not even here right now."

"You have stolen my heart," Jim whispered romantically.

"I haven't stolen anything," screamed Damoolah. "Besides, I was going to put it back."

"Why don't I stick around here for a while?" suggested Jim. "I could help you with your stand."

Images of jail cells and executioners flashed through Damoolah's mind. He had to get rid of these Super Stars before they called for the guards. "Uh, no thank you," he said, keeping up the fake voice. "I'm closing up anyway."

"Even better," said a delighted Jim. "I could take up on a tour of the castle. There's this perfect little secluded spot overlooking the mountains."

Suddenly, Damoolah realized that Jim thought he was someone else and wasn't there to arrest him. He turned around and said angrily in his normal voice, "What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"AAAAHHHH!" Jim recoiled in horror when he saw Damoolah's face.

"AAAAHHHH!" Damoolah screamed in response to Jim's scream.

"AAAAHHHH!" Tom screamed because he didn't want to be left out.

"Whoa, momma!" cried Jim. "You're not a girl; you're an ugly, dirty man."

"Yeah, well you're no Mr. Sahara yourself, buster," Damoolah shot back.

Tom peered closer at Damoolah's face. "Say, aren't you that thief from Agrabah. I remember seeing your face on wanted posters."

"Really?" Finally, Damoolah was receiving some much deserved attention in the thieving world.

"Yeah," said Tom. "Really tiny wanted posters with small rewards on them." Damoolah's shoulders slummed in disappointment. "You're name is Butterfingers."

The entire pretzel stand rattled as Damoolah pounded his fist on the counter in frustration. "Don't call me Butterfingers! My name is Amin Damoolah."

Jim reached across and grabbed Damoolah by the shirt. "You're name's going to be Mud if you don't answer some questions," Jim threatened. He was still a little upset at flirting with a guy dressed as a girl, as would be expected. Damoolah tried to back away, but Jim's grip was too strong. "What are you at this stand? Why are you in Dunwyn?"

"Can I have a large pretzel with melted cheese?" asked Tom. Jim looked at his friend in disbelief, but Tom just shrugged and said, "I told you I was hungry."

"Sure, one large pretzel," said Damoolah. Slowly, he reached down under the counter. "Would you like salt with that?" Damoolah grabbed a saltshaker and flung salt in Jim's face.

"Ack! My eyes!" The Super Star recoiled and released Damoolah who shot out of there like a rocket. Jim rubbed furiously at his eyes, trying to scrape away the burning sensation. His vision was blurry, but he could see just well enough to spot the theif dashing down the street.

"Come on, Tom. We have to catch him." Jim ran off in pursuit with Tom right behind him."

"Yeah, that guy owes me a pretzel."

Being a thief, Damoolah knew all about running away from the law. The problem was, this was Dunwyn, not Agrabah, so Damoolah wasn't familiar with the layout of the city and he didn't know where any good hiding places were. All he could do was run. Unfortunately for him, Jim and Tom had been to Dunwyn before and knew their way around pretty well. Still, Damoolah was the faster, so he was able to keep a narrow lead on the heroes.

That's what let Damoolah turn a corner, out of sight for a few seconds. He was at a street intersection with a bunch of empty barrels standing up against one wall. Jim and Tom's footsteps were fast approaching, so the thief jumped into one of the barrels. No sooner was he out of sight when the two teen heroes arrived. They looked up and down the street, but saw nothing.

"Slag it," cursed Jim. "Where did that creepy crook go?"

Damoolah's hand came out of the barrel and pointed down the left path. "I went that way."

"Thanks." Jim and Tom immediately set off towards the left, but didn't go far before Jim stopped, comprehension dawning on his face. "Wait a minute." The two of them stalked back to the barrels and surrounded the one where the helpful hand had come out of. "Alright Damoolah, we know you're in there. Come on out."

While Jim and Tom's attention was diverted, Damoolah slipped out of a different barrel. He would have got away scot free, but he slipped back into the barrel which fell on its side and rolled down the path to the right, knocking several other barrels over in the process. The noise alerted Jim and Tom and they gave chase once again.

Down the sloping street the barrel rolled with Damoolah inside being bashed about like laundry in a washing machine. At the end of the street, the barrel hit a wall and exploded apart in a shower of wooden planks. Damoolah lay on the ground, stunned, but he came to his senses quickly when he saw the two Super Stars racing down the hill after him.

"Hey you, stop!"

Damoolah sprang up and dashed off again, but Dunwyn was a hopeless maze to him. He'd just as easily loose himself in the city as loose Jim and Tom. As he stood there, unsure of what to do or where to go, a pair of hands reached out from the shadows and grabbed him. Damoolah didn't even have time to scream before he was pulled off the streets and out of sight down a dark alley.

Jim saw the thief disappear down the side street. He hurried his pace and called back for Tom to do the same. They ran around the corner, ready to face the thief.

"Surrender Damoolah," commanded Jim.

But instead of a cowering thief, what they saw in the darkness was a short, fat hooded figure standing next to a wagon with several dozen thick wooden logs tied onto it. The figure turned its head towards them. Jim squinted, but no face could be seen in the depths of those dark robes. The figure held a medieval battle ax in one hand and brandished it at Jim.

Both Jim and Tom took a step back and reached for their own weapons. "Whoa, boy," said Jim sternly. "Don't do anything foolish."

The hooded figure stood frozen, gazing down at them. He lifted the axe; Jim and Tom tensed. The figure swung the axe, not at the heroes, but at the wagon, cutting the restraints that held the logs in place. With a loud creaking sound, the logs tumbled out of the wagon and down the street right at the Super Stars.

"Uh oh."

"Look out, Tom!"

The young heroes turned and ran, desperate to outpace the logs racing towards them. Getting crushed would not only have been painful, but embarrassing. Think about it; you survive fighting all types of villains, including the awesome power of the M.A.D. Empire, only to be defeated by a dead tree.

"Over there!" shouted Tom as he ran. He pointed to a small alley just ahead of them. With a burst of speed, both teenagers dived into the opening, crashing into a man in a business suit. All three Toons fell to the ground as the herd of logs stampeded past.

"Whew! That was close," sighed Jim. His relief was short lived, though, when he heard the click-click sound of a gun being cocked. He looked to find himself staring down the barrel of a pistol held by a ruthless-looking woman at least ten years Jim's senior.

"Get off him now." The woman's voice was flat and emotionless, but the threat was clearly understood.

Jim looked down and found to his surprise that the man he had knocked down was Lex Luthor. "Oh, gosh, Mr. Luthor, I'm so sorry," said Jim, scrambling to his feet.

Luthor slowly got up, bushing the dirt of his expensive suit. With a smile, he placed his hand on the woman's gun and lowered the weapon. "Calm down, Mercy. These are Super Stars. They just saved me from being crushed by those logs."

Judging by her look, Mercy didn't think that was any excuse for pushing her boss down, but she holstered her weapon and didn't make a big deal about it. She did continue to glare at the two boys, daring them to even think about trying that stunt again.

"Again, really, really sorry," said Jim.

Tom came forward holding three metal balls – colored red, yellow, and blue – that he had picked up from the ground. Luthor must have been carrying them. "And I'm sorry about your..." Tom stared at the balls, not knowing exactly what they were for. Somehow, he didn't think they were ordinary playground balls.

Luthor took a remote from his pocket and pressed a few buttons. The balls shuttered, then flew out of Tom's hands to hover at eye level, slowly twisting around themselves.

"Wow, balls that juggle themselves," said Tom.

"They're a give for King Gregor as thanks for his hospitality during the Summit," explained Luthor. After a brief inspection of his invention, he announced, "There doesn't seem to be any harm done."

"Great, well we gotta go." Jim nudged Tom and motioned back towards the street. "Come on, we gotta find Damoolah."

Luthor watched them go with an amused smile. Jim and Tom ran back up the street, but all trace of Amin Damoolah and the hooded figure was gone.

"He gave us the slip," said Tom. "What do we do now?"

"I guess we'll just tell Tony and Mary about this when they get back." Jim smacked his fist angrily into his hand. "If I catch that thief, I'm gonna pound him. The way he was flirting with me back there; it was disgusting."

"Oh, I don't know," said Tom as the duo walked back to the marketplace. "That's the closest you've come to getting a date today."

As the two heroes walked away, three sets of eyes watched them from the window of an old abandoned building. One set belonged to Amin Damoolah; the other two sets belonged to two hooded figures – a tall, thin one that had grabbed Damoolah from the alley and the short, fat one that had drove Jim and Tom away.

Damoolah looked relieved to have the Super Stars off his trail, but he was still uneasy in the presence of these two strangers. "Look, my friends," he said nervously, "I am grateful for your help, but why?"

The two figures removed their hoods. The short one had pink skin with black stubble on his chin and upper lip. The tall one had much darker skin, a long face, and a tiny black mustache. Both men wore turbines like Damoolah's.

The thief gasped as he recognized the short figure. He was from Agrabah too. "You are Abis Mal."

Abis Mal slapped his companion on the stomach and said boldly, "You see, Haroud, my reputation precedes me."

"Yes sir, you are the Scourge of the Seven Deserts," said Haroud dryly. "All cower in fear at your passing."

"That's right," said Abis Mal, completely unaware of Haroud's sarcasm. "And as for why we rescued you," he said to Damoolah, "that's because...well, we...uh...Haroud, why did we rescue him?"

"Because, sir, he was bringing the Super Stars right to our doorstep." Haroud spoke to Abis Mal, but his stinging tone and angry glare was for Damoolah.

Haroud wasn't a muscular man, but Amin Damoolah was a coward and he quailed before the taller villain. "B-but, I didn't know."

"Well, now you do," said Abis Mal. He grabbed his axe and raised it above his head. "Let's make sure you don't lead any more heroes to us."

Damoolah fell to his knees, raising his folded hands in supplication. "Oh no! No! Please!"

"Wait just a moment, sir." Haroud restrained Abis Mal's bloodlust just as Luthor did with Mercy. "This thief owes us a favor for saving him. Maybe he can be of use in our collaboration."

"Good idea, Haroud," said Abis Mal. "I'm glad I thought of it." Both hooded villains grabbed Damoolah by an arm and dragged him out of the building and deeper into the dark alley.

Damoola was rapidly wishing he had been caught by the Super Stars after all. He didn't know what was going on, but doing favors for people always landed him in trouble. He strained against the grips holding him and protested the entire way. "Fellas, please, you don't want me to do anything for you. I'm no use to anybody. Ask anyone; they'll tell you. Besides, I have to see a man about a camel."

6


	7. Chapter 7:Fight in the Forest

**Greeting to all you toon lover out there is the next chapter.**

Mary and Tony were continuing their search through the woods, trying to track down Tummi Gummi or any of the other Gummi Bears. This was no easy feat since the Gummies had been hiding from people for years and knew all the best hiding spots in the kingdom. While they walked, Mary continued to tutor Tony on the etiquette of high society.

"Upper class behavior is basically just politeness to the tenth power with a little snobbery and bootlicking sprinkled in," said Mary. "The lower nobility compliments the higher nobility who will compare themselves to the royalty who in turn compliment the higher nobility on their complimenting."

"Oh, I see," said Tony. "Just say good things about everyone. I can do that. So, who compliments people like you and me?"

"Nobody," Mary simply said, but then she corrected herself. "Actually, now that people know you are the Toon Master, you can expect to draw a lot of attention. But Jim, Tom, and me; we're at the bottom of the food chain here, Tony. We speak only when spoken to and that isn't very often."

"Wow, that sounds really boring," said Tony.

"No, watching paint dry is boring," countered Mary. "Listening to Ladies in Waiting discussing floral arrangements is mind-numbing.

Tony gave Mary a knowing smile and the two friends joked around a bit more as they continued looking for the Gummi Bears. Their good humor faded, though, when they heard a thunderous boom ring out through the trees. Hundreds of birds flew out of the forest canopy, fleeing from the horrible sound.

"That sounded a lot like a gunshot," Tony said, a worried look on his face.

"No one in Dunwyn has guns," said Mary slowly. "Who could...hey, look!"

Tony looked where Mary was pointing and saw Cavin running through the trees towards the direction the gunshot had come from.

"He seems to be in an awful big hurry," stated Tony.

"Yeah" said Mary, "And big hurry in Toon World usually means big trouble."

Tony and Mary were startled as a second gunshot rang out. Somehow it sounded much louder than the first one.

"Come on," said Tony. "We have to catch Cavin before he runs into whatever is making that noise."

The two young heroes ran after Cavin. The sprinting page was fast, but it didn't take long for the Toon Master and young ninja to catch up with him.

Mary flexed her legs and leapt over Cavin and planted herself right in his way. Cavin was running at such a good pace that he barely had time to stop before running headlong into Mary

"Cavin, stop! Please!" exclaimed Mary, throwing her arms out to either side to block the path.

"Get out of my way!" cried Cavin. He tried to dash around Mary, but Tony came up behind him and held him by the arms. Tony didn't want to hurt Cavin, but he was forced to use a firm grip since the squire was struggling so fiercely.

"LET ME GO!" cried Cavin, "I NEED TO HELP THEM!"

Tony kept a tight grip on the boy, "Cavin. You can't go that way. It might be dangerous."

"That's the point," said Cavin, still struggling against Tony's strength. "My friends are that way."

Tony suddenly let go and Cavin fell forward onto the ground. "Well, why didn't you say so?" said Tony. "Let's go."

With Cavin in the lead, the three kids made their way through the forest to a large clearing where stood a tall, ancient oak tree with an intricate network of branches and knotted bark. The tree stood by a crystal clear pond. The meadow in the clearing looked neat and tidy like a well manicured lawn. Tony recognized this area to be Gummi Glen, ancestral home of the Gummi Bears, but said nothing to the others in respect for the Gummi's secrets.

Tony knew that Cavin also knew this was Gummi Glen. He was heading straight for the tree when Mary yanked him down behind a bush and motioned for Tony to stay down and be quiet. The three of them cautiously poked their heads over the bush and saw what looked like a giant centipede crawling around the meadow. The centipede was as long as the ancient tree was tall and thick enough that two grown men could not quite reach around it. Needle sharp legs left a trail of holes as they slid in and out of the soft ground.

"I have never seen a centipede that big before," Cavin whispered in wonder.

"How did it grow to be that size?" asked Mary.

"I don't think it did," answered Tony. "Look." He pointed to the centipede's back where a thin man with black hair and beard sat. He was wearing a red tunic and a white sash. His right eyeball was covered with a large monocle. The man was laughing manically as he pulled levers and twisted wheels on a control panel attached to the centipede's head.

"It's a machine," said Mary.

A rustling noise off to their left drew Tony, Mary, and Cavin's attention. The sight of the robot centipede has so startled them, they had failed to notice a muscular man wearing a yellow hunting jacket and tan slacks poking a shotgun into the bushes surrounding the glen. He was carefully prying the leaves of the bushes apart. The hunter's black eyes showed no emotion as he scanned every inch of the forest.

"That's Clayton," said Tony, pointing to the hunter. He pointed over at the man on the centipede and said, "And that's Mechanicles."

"You know them?" asked Cavin with a hint of suspicion.

"Well, not personally," said Tony. Not wanting to reveal the source of his cartoon knowledge, Tony simply said, "They're a couple of really nasty dudes."

"It looks like they're looking for something," whispered Mary. "Or someone."

A look of panic crossed Cavin's face. "They must be looking for..." Cavin quickly snapped his mouth shut and clamped his hand over his mouth to keep himself from saying anything more.

Tony, however, had guessed the rest of Cavin's sentence. "It's okay," he said gently, "Mary and I already know about the Gummi Bears."

The squire was astonished. He looked to Mary who nodded in confirmation. Cavin sighed in relief as he explained that he had been on his way to Gummi Glen to tell the Gummi Bears all about the arriving royalty and dignitaries when he had heard the loud explosive noises.

"Those two must be looking for the Bears," said Cavin.

"How did they ever find Gummi Glen?" wondered Mary.

"We can worry about that later," said Tony, silently drawing the Toon Sword from its scabbard. Seeing this, Mary immediately brought out her sai weapons. "Cavin, Mary and I will get rid of the bad guys while you make sure the Gummies are all right."

Cavin nodded with a determined face and crawled off to find one of the secret entrances to the interior of Gummi Glen.

"You handle Clayton, Mary," instructed Tony. "I'll take down the creepy, crawly, disgusting bug...and the centipede."

Clayton was methodically making his way towards the bush Tony and Mary were hiding behind. He raised his shotgun into the air and let loose another shot. The noise caused another flock of birds to take flight.

"Cease that racquet, you lumbering ox," shouted Mechanicles, almost as loudly as the gunshot was. "You will scare away the Bears."

"On the contrary, Mechanicles, it will flush our prey out of hiding" said Clayton in a dignified tone. "Leave the hunting to the experts. We'll find them." At that moment, Clayton had reached Tony and Mary's bush. When he pulled the branches apart, Mary leapt out and land a punch right on the hunter's shocked face.

"The only thing you two will find is a world of hurt," said the ninja.

"SUPER STAR POWER!"

"BY THE POWER OF TOON WORLD!"

A flash of light, a cascade of golden lightning, and Mary and Tony were transformed into super heroes. Mary was cloaked all in black with a mask and hood hiding all of her face save for her blue eyes. Tony wore his gold and red Toon Master costume with his cape billowing out dramatically behind him.

"What is this?" Mechanicles steered his robot centipede over to the commotion. "Who are these untidy interlopers?"

Instead of answering, Clayton just spoke to himself. "The rumors are true, then. A new Toon Master has come forth." A nasty smile stretched across Clayton's face as he raised his shotgun. "A Toon Master's head would be an excellent trophy."

"Sorry, Mr. Big Time Hunter," said Mary. "You've got to go through me first." With a jump kick, Mary knocked the gun away from Tony and landed another punch to Clayton's face. The hunter, now looking enraged, followed after Mary who was leaping through the treetops, leaving Tony alone with Mechanicles.

"Well, boy," said the evil inventor, "it looks like you'll have the face off against Mechanicles, greatest of the great Greek geniuses."

"I'll try to contain my excitement," said Tony.

With a maniacal laugh, Mechanicles jerked the levers of his machine, causing the centipede to rear up and expose its needle sharp legs. The giant bug bore down on Tony.

"_Colossus!_"

Tony felt himself sink several inches into the soft ground as he suddenly became several hundred pounds heavier. A thick coating of metal flowed across Tony's skin until his entire body was completely covered. His vision became monochrome since his eyes were also coated in the protective shielding. With the mighty strength of the titanic X-Man, it was easy for Tony to catch the legs of the centipede before they impaled him. Tony shoved and forced the centipede away from him. Then, he started hitting it. Each punch was a sledgehammer blow thanks to Tony's metal muscles. The last punch sent the robotic bug sprawling against the ancient tree of Gummi Glen.

"What's the matter, Mechanicles?" said Tony. The villain was holding his head, dizzy and disoriented. "I thought you were into heavy metal."

"Actually," retorted Mechanicles, "I prefer swing."

The centipede's head sprang out like a snake and its pincers clamped around Tony's leg. Tony didn't feel any pain through the metal skin, but the centipede lifted him up and swung him around and around before finally letting go. Tony flew through the air, able to see all of Gummi Glen, but the swinging had disoriented him. He could not concentrate enough to use his flying powers. He instead landed in the pond with a tremendous splash.

Mary both heard the splash and even felt some of the water spray. She wanted to check to make sure Tony was alright, but she was having her own problems at the moment. The ninja Super Star was hiding in the treetops watching Clayton move slowly and carefully underneath her. While Tony had been busy with Mechanicles, Mary had led Clayton deeper into the forest. Fighting at close range would prevent Clayton from fully utilizing his rifle, but even in her transformed state, Mary was probably not as strong as the muscular hunter. So, Mary was sticking to stealth. She would pop out of the trees to land a hit on Clayton and then disappear again before he could react.

Mary was just about to pop out again; this time to land the knock-out blow. As she tensed her muscles, the branch she was leaning on shifted slightly and let out a very small squeal. Clayton froze. He turned towards the sound. His eyes found Mary's as he started blasting into the trees.

Her hiding place discovered, Mary jumped down to avoid the bullets. She landed right in Clayton's sights. Mary didn't move a muscle as she stared down the barrel of Clayton's gun. The hunter chuckled to himself as he pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked, but the gun didn't fire - no more bullets.

Cursing, Clayton didn't bother to try and reload the gun. He charged at Mary with the butt of his gun held high. Mary ducked under him and threw a series of raid jabs at Clayton's stomach. It was like hitting a block of steel, but the punches did drive the evil hunter back a few steps. Mary charged this time, whipping out her sais. A sweeping blow of Clayton's gun knocked the weapons from Mary's hands.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with sharp objects?" asked Clayton.

"Who do you think taught me how to use them?" countered Mary. She produced a pair of throwing knives from within her sleeves and pinned Clayton by his shirt to the side of a tree.

Picking up her sais, Mary went in for the attack again, but was forced to jump back when a fireball came hurtling from her right side. Mechanicles was shooting the fire from a cannon in the centipede's mouth, driving Mary back away from Clayton.

"You barbaric dolt," spat Mechanicles. "Can't you even eliminate one little girl?"

Clayton growled as he savagely ripped the knives out of his shirt, freeing himself from the tree. His voice was filled with embarrassment and rage at having to be protected. "Why don't you worry about your own hero, you Bronze Age buffoon!"

Clayton pointed behind Mechanicles. The geeky Greek was stunned to find Tony, dripping wet, standing at the edge of the pond. When he had fallen into the water, Tony had sunk like a ton of bricks. The impact had temporarily knocked the Toon Master out and when he came to, he found himself lying on a glass dome. Through the glass, Tony could see a homey-looking wooden hallway with bright red tapestries and paintings of fantastic cityscapes.

Tony also saw a group of six multi-colored bears wearing medieval style clothing. The bears stared up at Tony with expressions of curiosity, excitement, fear, and anger.

_The Gummi Bears_, Tony thought. He tried to speak, to say hello or something, but all that came out was a big bubble of air. That was when Tony realized he was underwater. Very far underwater. Tony struggled to swim to the surface, his lungs demanding air the whole way. He didn't make much progress until he deactivated Colossus' powers and his skin returned to its normal, lightweight state.

Now, the Toon Master stood before Mechanicles defiantly. "Alright Bug Boy, I'm ready for round two."

Mechanicles cringed and ducked behind the controls of his robot centipede, but his reaction wasn't out of fear, but rather out of disgust. "Stay back! You are absolutely filthy. You just stay away from my nice clean creation," the Greek said, rubbing the head of the centipede affectionately.

"Filthy?" Tony was confused. He pointed over his shoulder at the pond and said, "I just took an involuntary bath. I gotta be pretty clean."

"Are you mad?" shrieked Mechanicles, also pointing at the pond. "There are fish in there. Do you have any idea what fish do in ponds?" He gave an involuntary shutter. "So unsanitary. I don't even what to think about it."

"Aww, poor baby," said Tony. "Let me give you something to take your mind off the nasty, dirty fish."

"_Cyclops!_"

Tony's eyes glowed with a fearsome red light as twin crimson beams of energy lanced out at the centipede. The beams struck dead center and forced the giant arthropod back a bit, but other than that, caused no noticeable damage. The centipede dug its metal legs into the dirt and held its ground. Tony stopped the beam and released Cyclops' power.

"Ha ha hahahahaha," cackled Mechanicles in a throaty cough. "My creation is reinforced with Super Steel. It can't be blasted apart. You on the other hand..." Mechanicles frantically pulled at levels and sent a barrage of fireballs at Tony who retreated behind the ancient tree of Gummi Glen.

"Let's wrap this up shall we," said Mechanicles. He withdrew a scroll from his tunic and inspected it carefully. "We're already behind schedule and I have an appointment at 3:47."

"Don't worry," Tony called out from behind the tree. "I just need another minute of your time to get my point across." He drew the Toon Sword and dashed underneath the centipede. Super Steel or not, the blade of the Toon Sword slid easily into the belly of the robotic bug and sliced it open from head to tail. Mechanicles looked on in horror as the centipede staggered for a few seconds, gave a final shutter and collapsed in a pile of steel plates and loose gears.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Mechanicles mourned the loss of his machine like his own child. "Why do heroes keep feeling compelled to destroy my wonderful inventions? Oh well, at least I thought to take out an insurance policy this time."

Tony pointed the Toon Sword at the weeping Greek and said, "You're robotic rampage is over Mechanicles. It's time to give yourself up."

"Not according to my schedule, it isn't." Mechanicles pulled one more lever on the control panel. With a hiss of steam, the still in-tact centipede's head detached from the rest of the body and hovered in mid air on two flapping steel wings that unfolded out of the neck.

"Oh, right," said Tony, slapping himself on the forehead. "The escape pod is always in the robot's head."

"CLAYTON!" screamed Mechanicles.

The wild-eyed hunter was still battling with Mary, but at seeing the centipede in pieces, he knew it was time to go. He grabbed up his rifle and, using Tony's shoulders as a springboard, leapt into the flying head with Mechanicles. The two villains hurried off over the forest and out of sight.

Mary hurried over to where Tony was standing. "I saw you go into the pond. Are you alright?"

Tony assured his teammate that he was fine as he twisted water out of his damp clothing. "I'm just glad this costume isn't dry clean only. Did Clayton give you too much trouble?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle," said Mary proudly. She looked around and said, "We better make sure Cavin is okay."

Mary didn't have to wait long to confirm that. As soon as it was clear that Clayton and Mechanicles had gone, Cavin poked his head out of one of the knots of the ancient tree by the pond. He scanned the area carefully and then called down into the tree to some unseen person. "Okay, the coast is clear!"

Cavin pulled himself awkwardly out of the tree. He was followed by six bears, all of them shorter than the young squire.

The brown-furred bear wearing a green hat was Gruffi Gummi, a sort of unofficial leader of the Bears of Gummi Glen. "Kid, later, we are going to have a serious talk about how to keep a secret." An almost permanent scowl was etched on Gruffi's face and his arms were crossed tightly.

Cavin begged askance from the short bear. "I told you Gruffi, I didn't tell them anything." Cavin gestured to Tony and Mary. "They said they already knew about you."

Gruffi's demeanor didn't soften in the slightest. "Herumph. All the same, they're not welcome here. They're probably spies for Duke Igthorn."

Grammi Gummi, the elder orange-furred female bear in the blue skirt, wagged her finger menacingly at Gruffi, as if scolding an unruly child. "Now Gruffi Gummi, don't be so rude. After all, these two young'uns did just save our home."

"Yeah, that was great!" said Cubbi, the little pink bear and youngest of the Glen Gummies. He rambled on about Tony and Mary's fight, gesturing wildly with a simple wooden sword. "The way you sliced up that giant bug and the way you showed up that mean old hunter was just incredible; just like real knights."

"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes," said Zummi Gummi, the older purple-furred wizard of the Gummi Bears. "We are grost mateful – I mean, I mean most grateful. How can we show our thanks?"

"Maybe we could invite them to dinner," said Tummi Gummi, the blue-furred, tallest, and largest of the Gummi Bears. Just thinking of food made Tummi's mouth water as he patted his bulging stomache.

"There's no need to thank us," said Mary. "We're just happy we could save your home."

"Which begs the question," said Gruffi, "How did you find our home?"

All the Gummi Bears were looking up at him expectantly, but Tony was unsure how to answer. He wanted to keep his promise to King Magnus not to reveal his identity as Toon Master, but he didn't know what other answer would placate the Bears. He turned to Mary in desperation, but she seemed to be at a loss for words too. Then, she shrugged her shoulders and held out her hand as if to say, "You might as well tell them."

Tony let out a long breath. He supposed it was pretty pointless to keep up the pretense; especially after his slip-up in Dunwyn Castle. "I know about Gummi Glen and you Gummi Bears because I'm Tony Masters. I'm the new Toon Master."

The Bears all stared in shock while Cavin jumped up and whooped in excitement. "I knew it! I knew it must be you. You must be related to Theodore Masters!"

"My Grandfather," confirmed Tony. "And this is my friend, Mary, one of the Super Stars

"Wow, a real live Toon Master," exclaimed Cubbi. "This is better than any old knight."

"So, the legends are true," said Zummi in a soft voice full of wonder. "Gummi legends speak of Toon Masters working and fighting side by side with the Great Gummies hundreds of years ago, before they were forced into exile across the sea.

"Well, Toon Master or not," said Gruffi, scowling, "we have to make sure these two won't tell anyone about us."

"You can trust them, Gruffi," insisted Cavin.

"Besides," Mary chimed in, "I've known about Gummi Bears for years and never told anyone, not even the other Super Stars. I once saved you from ogres," she said, looking Tummi in the eyes.

"You did?" Tummi seemed very surprised. He clearly did not remember the incident or his savior. "Well, thank you very much."

"See Gruffi," said Sunni, the yellow-furred teenage Gummi Bear. "They can keep a secret."

"Alright, alright," Gruffi finally relented. "But the both of you need to leave right now. And we have to get started cleaning up the damage those villains did to Gummi Glen."

"Eh, but Gruffi, what if they come back?" asked Zummi. He nervously looked up as if just mentioning Clayton and Mechanicles could make them reappear.

"Yeah, maybe the Toon Master should stick around for a while?" suggested Tummi in his sleepy voice.

"Eh, I could take them," said Cubbi, stabbing imaginary enemies with his toy sword.

"Actually, it would be safer for all of you if you left Gummi Glen," said Mary.

All the Gummies looked at the Super Star in shock and outrage. "Leave Gummi Glen?" said Gruffi.

Mary backtracked a bit. "Just for a few days; until we're sure no one will bother you again."

"I'd bet my allowance that Clayton and Mechanicles are only here because of the conference," said Tony. "Two Disney villains show up while a bunch of Disney royalty arrive in Dunwyn. That can't be a coincidence."

"But why would they be looking for the Gummi Bears?" asked Cavin.

"For the same reason Duke Igthorn is," said Zummi. "To steal our magic and secrets."

"Oh, that reminds me." Tony took out the Gummi medallion he had found and handed it to Zummi. "I think this belongs to you."

"Wow," said Cavin, his eyes popping out. "Another Gummi medallion. Just like the one I gave you, Zummi."

"Oh my goodness gracious," cried Zummi. "Where in the world did you find this?"

Tony and Mary briefly explained their encounter with the two ogres and how they figured that those monsters had dropped the medallion.

"But, how could those ogres get a medallion?" asked Tummi. "I thought there weren't very many left."

"Maybe it is Lady Bane's," suggested Sunni. "She's got a medallion, doesn't she?" Lady Bane was an old, but beautiful and vain witch who craved power and would do anything to get more. She even teamed up with Duke Igthorn on occasion in order to destroy the Gummi Bears.

"I don't think that hag would just give up her medallion like that," scoffed Grammi.

"I don't think it is Lady Bane's medallion, anyway," said Zummi in a distracted way. His attention was focused fiercely on the golden pendant in his hand. "In fact, I think this fedallion's a make...that is, this medallion's a fake."

The three teenagers and the other Gummi Bears gasped in surprise at this pronouncement. "What makes you say that, Zummi," asked Grammi.

Zummi took his own medallion, the one hanging around his neck, in his hand. "Gummi medallions are filled with magical energy," the old Bear explained. "I can feel the power in mine, but I can't feel anything in this one."

"Can I see it, Zummi?" Tony took back the medallion and weighed it in his hand. He didn't feel any magic from the cold metal either. Granted, he didn't know what he was supposed to be feeling, but being Toon Master, he should be able to feel something from a real medallion, shouldn't he? On a whim, Tony drew the Toon Sword and used the tip to scrape the surface of the metal. Thin flakes of gold peeled off revealing a black core underneath. "Check it out."

Everyone crammed together to see what Tony had uncovered. "It is a fake!" exclaimed Cubbi.

Being very careful, Tony used his sword to cut the medallion in half lengthwise. The magic sword easily slid through the cheap black metal, creating two disks. Tony pried them apart to reveal a series of blinking diodes and crackling wires.

"It looks like some kind of microchip or circuit board," mused Mary.

"Actually, I think it's more like a tracking device," said Tony. "This circuitry looks similar to other tracers that Jim has shown me."

"What does that mean?" asked Sunni. Being from a medieval world, the Gummi Bears had a very limited knowledge of things like computers.

"It means that those ogres were trying to find you using this," said Tony, holding up the fake medallion. "It was probably programmed to hone in on the magic of your medallion, Zummi."

"Oh, my. Oh, dear," groaned Zummi.

"Well, at least they don't have it anymore," said Tummi with relief.

"All the same, I think Mary was right," said Tony. "You should leave Gummi Glen for a while. Just until the conference is over," he quickly added.

"Well, I suppose we could go to Ursalia for a while," Gruffi said slowly.

"No, come to Castle Dunwyn," said Cavin excitedly. "It'll be safer there."

"Alright!" cheered Cubbi. "That's a great idea. We can watch the tournament together." There was always a tournament of champions on the final day of the conference. The best knights and warriors from different lands pitted themselves against each other in friendly sport. It helped to bolster cooperation among the planets of Toon World.

"Cavin, have you lost your mind?" asked Gruffi. "The castle is full of humans."

"Oh, Gruffi's right," said Zummi, "Where would we stay?"

"You could hide in my room," said Cavin.

"And I bet Calla wouldn't might if Grammi and I stayed in her room," said Sunni. She was thrilled with any opportunity to see her best friend.

"And I could be close to the kitchens," said Tummi, smacking his lips. "The royal chef makes the best pastries."

"I still don't know," said Gruffi. "It isn't the Gummi Way."

"Oh, Gruffi Gummi, you stubborn old goat," scolded Grammi, "I don't like being near that many humans either, but I will not have the children stay here when there could be trouble. Cubbi, Sunni, Tummi, come on; we have to start packing." And with that, the Gummi matriarch turned back towards the ancient tree with the three young Gummi Bears following eagerly behind.

Knowing that he was defeated, Gruffi Gummi accepted Cavin's plan, with the provision that Tony could guarantee that Gummi Glen would be in no danger once the conference was over.

"I give you my word, Gruffi," promised the Toon Master, who was not yet aware how difficult his promise would be to keep.

8

**Tony seems to be handling his own, but i wonder how Penny and king are doing after Tony's little lip up?**


	8. Chapter 8:Princess Politeness

**While Tony and Mary got the Gummies ready to go, King Magnus was having his own difficulties with the other dignitaries.**

"Please everyone calm down!" shouted King Magnus. The meeting room resembled the United Nations meeting house with its stadium seating arranged in a semicircle. In the center stood a podium where King Magnus now stood, in the front row of seats sat King Gregor, Calla, Penny and Queen Bridget, all four looked on with anxious and worried expressions.

As King Magnus got the room under control, a few of the rulers began asking questions. "The rumors are true, Magnus?" asked the Sultan of Agaraba. "The Toon Sword has chosen another Master?"

"And why were we not notified?" shouted the Queen of Hearts.

"Worst of all, you let it choose a child," added Long Fe.

The Head Councilwoman of the Galactic Federation – a blue skinned alien woman with an oblong-shaped head – nodded in agreement. "The boy has no experience in battle. What makes him worthy of such power?"

"First of all," stated King Magnus, "We are all aware that the Toon Sword chooses its own master. I have no say as to whom it picks. Tony has shown tremendous courage in battle and mastery of his powers in training. As for his age I believe the Avatar himself is no more than twelve years old." The King shot a look at Long Fe, then a look at the Federation Councilwoman, "And was it not you who entrusted the capture and relocation of over 600 illegal aliens to an eight year old?" The Council Woman remained silent.

"The threat of Dr. Claw is growing, and the need for a Toon Master is great. When Tony was chosen, the Toon Palace itself was under attack. If it was not for the Toon Master, we would all be under the rule of M.A.D."

As the rulers began to mummer between themselves, Penny was getting agitated. _That idiot!_ she thought_. He just had to go and shoot off his mouth. He never thinks! He always does what he wants with no regard for others._ Penny felt a hand on her shoulder she turned to see Calla trying to calm her. Her smiling face only mulled the princess. A flashing light caught the attention of both princesses. Penny looked at her wrist communicator to see two T's flashing, she turned to Calla and mouthed _I need to leave_; to making sure her mother would not hear.

Calla nodded and stood up. "Excuse me, your Majesty" she said as she addressed Queen Bridget, "Would you mind if I borrowed Penny for a few moments? I need her help picking out a dress for tonight."

The Queen was somewhat skeptical, but maybe this would help Penny be more ladylike. "Of course you may," she replied kindly. She rose from her seat and let the girls pass. She continued to watch as they reached the doors and took off down the hall. The two princesses ran down three corridors and up two flights of stairs before Penny activated her communicator.

"This is Penny," she said, slightly out of breath. "What's going on?"

Tom's face appeared on one side of the com screen and Tony's face occupied the other. "What took you so long?" asked Tony. "We're half way back to the castle and you just answered my call?"

"You think it's easy leaving a room full of royalty, guards, and a ruthless creature?" retorted an irritated Penny.

"There's a guard dog?" asked Tom.

"I think she meant the queen" said Jim.

"Look we have a problem" said Tony, getting everyone's attention. "Mary and I were in the forest when we found Clayton and Mechanicles looking for something. We're not quite sure what, but whatever it was, it seemed pretty important."

"The same happened to us." Jim's voice could be heard over Tom's communicator. "We were chasing Amin Damoolah when this hooded figure attacked us."

"Yeah, and then we tackled Mr. Luthor…" Tom was cut off by Jim shouting.

"TOM!"

"What? We saved him from the logs."

Penny was ready to blow, "Enough! Everyone get back to the castle so we can- MOTHER!"

The Queen was suddenly towering over the two princesses. "You left the meeting to call theses unchains?" she asked furiously. "Penny this is completely unacceptable. It would seem I will have to keep an eye on you for the rest of this trip. And you, Mr. , I told you before I will not tolerate your behavior. It has become painfully obvious that overgrown knife made a mistake." With that last comment, Queen Bridget ripped the communicator off Penny's wrist, ending the transmission.

The Queen pocketed the communicator and returned her attention on the two princesses. "I am very disappointed in you Penny, putting those peasants before your duties."

"I'm a Super Star mother!" Penny shouted. "Whether you like it or not, my friends are part of my duties."

"Then, for the reminder of the Summit, your only duty is to be a princess." With that, she turned and left. "She should have never left the palace to live with that buffoon," the Queen said to herself.

"Penny? Penny, are you there?" Mary tapped her wrist communicator, just like people did to real phones, but she received no answer to her calls.

"Do you think everything's okay?" asked Tom with a hint of worry.

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," replied Mary calmly. "The Queen probably made Penny shut off her communicator. That happens when the royal family goes to fancy dinners and meetings and stuff."

After sneaking the Gummi Bears into Dunwyn castle and making sure they were all well hidden, Mary and Tony had met up with Jim and Tom out in the courtyard, near the castle entrance and had recounted their earlier adventures. Jim and Tom reported their encounter with Amin Damoolah and how the thief had lost them in the streets. They also mentioned the cloaked figure that had let loose a hoard of ravenous barrels to attack them. Mary and Tony described finding the ogres, their battle with Clayton and Mechanicles and the fake Gummi medallion.

When they heard about the medallion, Jim and Tom just chuckled. "So the ogres are souvenir shopping too, eh?" laughed Jim. "The streets are filled with stands selling Gummi trinkets like medallions and stuffed bears."

Tony opened his mouth to argue; he wanted to tell Jim about meeting the Gummi Bears and to point out that any souvenir medallion most likely wasn't filled with electronic equipment. Before he could speak, Mary put a hand on his arm and shook her head, giving Tony a stern look. It was clear she wanted to keep the Bears a secret, even from their friends. Tony supposed that she was right and reluctantly remained silent.

"Anyway," said Mary, once Jim and Tom's giggle fit had subsided, "It's pretty obvious that something bad is going down. We have to find out what."

"Do you think everything's connected?" asked Tom. "I mean, there are always ogres in the forest and petty thieves like Damoolah aren't really a threat."

"Well, giant metal centipedes aren't always in the forest," Tony shot back. "Clayton and Mechanicles were searching around Gum-...I mean, they were searching for something, just like the ogres. Just the fact that those two have teamed up, for whatever reason, is enough to worry me."

"Me too," agreed Mary. "Where there are two villains, there may be more. We have to find them."

"We have to find Penny, too, and tell her about all this, since we can't call her," said Tom. "If this villain team-up thing is as big as you think it is, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Chill out, guys," said Jim. "I mean, we're not exactly the only super heroes in town." Jim pointed towards the fleet of starships parked outside the castle walls. Each ship belonged to a Toon World leader and each leader had brought their own troops for protection. Right now, those troops were patrolling all along the castle walls. Polished armor gleamed as muscular hands grasped swords sharpened so well they could cut through steel. Other guards grasped laser rifles that could burn holes through stone. Plus, several of the leaders had powers of their own.

"I think we've got it covered."

"I hear you, Jim," said Tony with a confident smile. "Nonetheless, we should find the villains before they can make their move."

"We'll split up again," said Mary. "Tony and I will try to find Clayton, Mechanicles, and whoever else may be involved in this. Jim, you and Tom find Penny and fill her in."

"Gotcha." Jim grabbed Tom's arm and started to drag him away. "Come on, Tom, let's search the food court in the castle." Jim noticed the knowing looks his friends were giving him. "Because Penny might be there. Being bored out of your mind makes a person hungry."

"Can I at least get a snack this time?" asked Tom as he allowed Jim to lead him away.

"Do you think we should tell Jim that the pretzel stand he's looking for where that girl worked went out of business last year?" asked Mary.

"Nah," said Tony, waving his hand dismissively. "At least it gives him something to do. Besides, we've got something more important to worry about. How are we supposed to find Clayton and Mechanicles?"

"I suppose there's the old fashioned way," said Mary. "Search high and low in Dunwyn until we find them."

"Assuming that they're in Dunwyn," counted Tony.

"It would let them keep an eye on the summit."

"But they'd risk being spotted that way." Tony thought about it for a moment. "The leader of a villain team-up is usually the villain of whatever location where the team-up is. I bet Clayton and Mechanicles are holded up with Igthorn in Drekmore."

Mary stiffened at that thought. "We'd better be really sure about that before we go marching into Drekmore. There's an ogre underneath every rock in that place."

"How can we know for sure?"

It was Mary's turn to think. "We should be able to use the scanners on Toon Force One to find them."

"How? Those two villains don't have any super powers for us to track."

"We won't scan for them," said Mary. "We'll scan for the centipede head they escaped on. That thing may put out just enough energy to trace."

"Excellent. Let's get..." Tony stopped as he saw a group of people heading towards him and Mary. As they got closer, Tony could see Penny leading with Calla at her side and two other teenage girls who he guessed must also be princesses. The four of them were huddled together tightly, chatting amongst themselves as they walked, but looked up when Tony waved and called out to them. "Hey Penny! Girls! Over here!"

As the princesses approached, Mary drew Tony in close and whispered. "Tony, remember what we talked about. These are royals; be respectful and courteous."

"Right, right," Tony muttered back. When the girls joined them at the castle gates, Tony sunk low into a slightly awkward bow and, adopting a voice reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock, said, "Good afternoon, You Highnesses. So lovely to see you today." Mary copied Tony's greeting with a far more graceful curtsey.

Calla smiled warmly at the two heroes, while the other girls looked on politely, waiting for introductions. "And a good day to you, Toon Master," she said, causing Tony to mentally cringe at the reminder of his slip of the tongue earlier. "May I introduce Princesses Marie and Savina."

The two young royals at the back gave small curtseys in greeting. Princess Marie was from a neighboring kingdom; once one of Calla's fiercest rivals, she was now one of her closest friends. She seemed a bit vain as she tossed back her long, curly black hair, but her smile was warm and friendly. The young woman next to Marie was Princess Savina, a red-haired, thin girl slightly taller than the others. She was a little shy, keeping her eyes downcast, but spoke with conviction when greeting Tony and Mary.

Tony grasped Princess Marie and Savina's right hands, giving each a light kiss. "It's an absolute pleasure, a joy, a thrill to meet you. Tony Masters, at your service."

Marie and Savina gave each other quick, nervous glances. They and Calla seemed a little embarrassed by Tony's open display of affection, whereas Penny was downright baffled by it. It seemed so outside of Tony's character. He had a tendency to act goofy, for sure – what Toon didn't – but this was over the top, even for him. Penny gave Mary a quizzical look, but the young ninja just shrugged, shook her head, and tried not to look too guilty.

This silent exchange was not lost on Tony, who took Penny's look as annoyance, or possibly disappointment, that she had been ignored. Eager to fix this, Tony leapt forward and took both of Penny's hands in his. Then, bowing so low that he could count the frayed ends of his shoelaces, Tony said, "And a great big blustery hello to you, oh Princess of Toon World."

"Uh...yeah, hi," stammered Penny uncertainly. Addressing Mary, she said, "I wanted to hear more about this fight you guys had with Clayton and Mechanicles."

Before Mary could answer, Tony pipped up, "Oh, don't worry about that. We'll take care of it."

"But..."

"No, no, we're the security after all," Tony said airily. "You shouldn't have to deal with something like that."

Penny just stood there, staring at Tony with a blank expression. She didn't know how to respond to that and her astonishment was mirrored in the faces of the other princesses. Even Mary was at a loss for words.

The uncomfortable silence was starting to undermine Tony's confidence. His eyes darted from one female face to another as he strained to keep smiling. _I feel like an idiot_, Tony thought. _I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I don't sound refined enough. Maybe an accent would help._ English people tented to sound refined and nothing sounded more English than Shakespeare.

"Forsooth and yon, tis glorious to be in thine presence of such royal heirs. A kingdom by any other name would smell like roses on a midsummer's night."

All five girls just stared in disbelief at Tony.

_Me thinketh I be screwingeth this upeth._

It seemed like Penny wanted to say something, but her mouth just opened and closed with no sound. She stood there gasping like a goldfish. Calla took pity on her friend, forcibly steering her back towards Castle Dunwyn. "Come on, Penny, let's pick out what we're all going to wear tonight." Penny allowed herself to be lead away after one last unreadable look at Tony. His reluctance to include her in the discussion about the villains had hurt. Maybe he was starting to develop an attitude like her father's, or worse, like her mother's.

Mary may have had the same thought. "Tony, why did you tell Penny not to worry about our fight in the forest?"

Tony looked at Mary as if it had been obvious. "Penny has so much on her plate right now, what with the Leader's Summit and arguing with her mother, I thought this would be one less thing she'd have to deal with."

"Well, that is sweet of you," admitted Mary. "But I don't think it came across that way."

"Tell me about it." Tony's gaze drifted back to the meeting room doors the group of princesses had disappeared behind. A sense of hopelessness enveloped him. "Did you see the way she...they looked at me. I must have sounded so stupid."

Mary was quick to reassure her friend. "It wasn't so bad, really. I think you just over did it a bit. You just have to tone it down some."

"I'm the worst Toon Master ever," cried Tony hysterically. "Everything that comes out of my mouth is garbage. I should just spend the rest of the summit lying under a rock!"

"Or you could freak out," said Mary. "That might work too."

Taking several deep breaths, Tony managed to calm himself down slightly. "Obviously I don't know nearly enough about the rules of high society." He grabbed Mary's shoulders and shook her. "Mary, you've got to coach me some more."

Mary extracted herself from the vice-like grip before saying, "We don't have time for that, Tony. We're supposed to be scanning for Mechanicles' robot centipede, remember?"

"You can teach me while we're doing that," Tony insisted. "Come on, please? I'm begging to be educated; that should tell you how desperate I am."

"Oh, okay," Mary relented. Tony gave a cheer and happily followed her into Toon Force One, confident that the next time, he wouldn't do anything to embarrass Penny or himself.

4

**Tony Trying to be high class...You can say "this won't end well"...sure i knew that you could.**


	9. Chapter 9:Dark Plans

Heroes and world leaders weren't the only ones having meetings in Dunwyn that day. Mary was right; Clayton and Mechanicles had retreated to Dunwyn, the run-down slum-like section of the city where no decent citizen would venture into, but was the perfect hiding place for those two. And unfortunately, they were not alone.

At the end of a cobbled street with broken stones and gutters filled with trash and filth stood a small shack with broken glass in the windows and a door just barely hanging on its hinges. The royal building inspectors of Dunwyn had declared this building as unsafe; no one was supposed to go near it. If they could look in now, they would see a cluster of villains from across the Disney Sector of Toon World. Disney villains worked together better than most other bad guys and this was not the first time they had joined forces for a common goal. Still, evil beings are generally not team players, and as they crowded inside the shack, listening to the report of their companions' failed mission, they argued hotly amongst themselves.

"…and then those horrible, dirty children destroyed my beautiful creation," whined Mechanicles, gently rubbing the head of his robotic centipede as if it were a lap dog. "We had no choice but to retreat."

"The bottom line is you failed miserably," said Jafar, the sinister ex-Grand Vizier of Agrabah. His black robes made him look like a towering shadow. The eyes of the snake staff in his hands glowed blood red as he gazed down at the cowering Greek inventor.

"I knew this rusted hunk of junk wouldn't be able to do the job," spouted Dr. Facilier, a thin, tan skinned voodoo witch doctor. A wave of his hand and a puff of purple smoke filled the air. The smoke acted like a screen, allowing everyone to see how easy Tony had been able to rip through the belly of Mechanicles' centipede. The picture changed and showed Mary's fight with Clayton. Facilier pointed his staff at the fuming hunter and said, "And this one didn't do any better."

"It wasn't my fault," raged Clayton. He swept his hand through the air and dissipated the cloud of magic smoke. "It was that new Toon Master and his companion. We had not been warned that they would be here."

"Stop making excuses," said Gaston, a big game hunter like Clayton. His red tunic fit closely to his skin to better show off his muscular physique. There was a look of madding superiority on his face. "You call yourself a hunter? You couldn't handle two children. Now, if I had been there, I would have found these Gummi Bears things and defeated the Toon Master."

"If you had been there, you'd have spent all your time admiring yourself in the water," said McLeach, a third hunter. Unlike both Clayton and Gaston, McLeach was not as physically fit; he even had a bit of a potbelly. He was still a formidable tracker though and preferred to catch his prey using traps rather than stalking them. "I'd have had those Bears by now. I bet their pelts are worth quite a bit on the black market."

"This arguing is pointless," snapped Yzma, the decrepit old woman who longed to be an Empress. Her face cracked into a hundred wrinkles as she spoke. "We're wasting our time on a wild goose chase. We can't even be sure these Gummi Bears exist."

Duke Igthorn, the deposed knight of Dunwyn, stepped forward and venomously defended against Yzma's accusation. "I told you; they are real. I've seen them with my own eyes."

"So, all we have is you're word," said Yzma skeptically. She knew the word of a villain was useless.

"My word and my ogres'." Duke Igthorn gestured behind him to the half dozen ogres who had accompanied him to the meeting. The big, hulking brutes weren't paying the slightest attention to anything that had been said. Instead, they were having a grand time hitting each other over the head with stones and wood planks.

"Stop that right now, you idiots!" screamed the duke.

"Sorry, Dukie," the ogres said in unison. They reluctantly dropped their toys…on their feet and began hopping about in pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry," drawled Yzma. "How could I doubt such intelligent creatures?" She turned to the assembled crowd and said, "Do we really want to rely on someone who surrounds himself with buffoons like that?"

"As opposed to your henchman?" asked Igthorn. He pointed over to Kronk, Yzma's large, but dim lackey. Despite a dubious classification as a villain, Kronk was actually quite gentle and did as much to prevent Yzma's evil schemes as he did to help them along.

Right now, Kronk was standing over a greed-skinned ogre who was rubbing his injured foot. "You know, you really should soak your feet in warm water with some bath salts. That's what I do whenever my feet get sore after playing Kuzco-ball. It's a game kind of like football, expect you don't really use your feet very much. You catch and throw the ball with your hands, but you can't call it handball because there's already a sport called handball where you're not allowed to use your hands. It's confusing."

Yzma looked at Igthorn and reluctantly said, "Point taken."

"Don't worry. The Gummi Bears are real." Every turned to the back of the building where a teenage boy stood casually with his hands clasped behind his back. He was gazing out the window, his dark blue eyes sharp and intelligent. The tiniest hint of a breeze leaked through the cracked window glass, ruffling his jet black hair. He turned to face his audience and said in a smooth voice, "They are real and all the proof that you need is right here." The boy held out a small glass vial filled with a liquid of deep purple-red. Stamped on the glass was the Gummi insignia, the same one as on a Gummi medallion.

"Ah yes, the fabled Gummi Berry Juice," said Jafar. He reached for the vial, but the boy calmly kept it out of the sorcerer's reach. "We've seen that the juice does work, but its effects are extremely temporary. How can it help us with our plan?"

"I have a friend who has been working on that." No sooner were the words out of the boy's mouth when there was a knock at the door. All the villains tensed at the sound, except for the boy.

Gaston, who was closed to the door, peaked from behind the thin curtains draped over the window. "It's him." The teenager boy nodded and Gaston opened the door to allow Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves enter the building.

"Ah, Lex," said the teen in greeting. "I trust you're experiments were successful."

"Indeed," grinned Luthor. He reached inside his suit jacket and took out the red, yellow, and blue balls that he had told Tom and Jim were a present for King Gregor. In reality, the metallic balls were high-tech incubators developed specifically to augment the power of Gummi Berry Juice. Each ball popped open to reveal a tiny test tube inside. The tubes were filled with thick liquids whose colored matched the ball they were in.

"Lex Corp Labs was able to create three different Juice Enhancers." Luthor took the Gummi Berry Juice from the teen boy as Mercy produced two more containers of the powerful liquid. He set all three vials on a table and uncorked them. "The red Enhancer will increase the strength a human gains from the Juice fivefold. The yellow Enhancer will increase magical energy output and the blue Enhancer will increase a person's speed." As he spoke, Luthor added a drop from each Enhancer into one of the vials of Juice. As each Enhancer was mixed in, the Juice itself turned red, yellow, or blue. "As an added bonus, the duration of the Juice's effects has been significantly extended."

"I've received the itinerary of the Summit from those world leaders that are on our side," explained the teenage boy. "The celebration dance on the last night will be the best chance to attack."

"But, we weren't able to find the Gummi Bears to make more Juice," Clayton pointed out.

"Correction, YOU weren't able to find the Bears," said the boy, determined to lay blame where blame was due. Clayton scowled, but said nothing. "However, we still have the Juice provided by Duke Igthorn. He has enough for one dose per villain."

"So don't waste it," warned Igthorn. "That's all the Juice I was able to save from the time I captured that grandma Gummi."

"With this Juice and the weapons promised to us by Zanatos Enterprises, we will easily overpower all the bodyguards and heroes protecting the Summit."

"But what about the Toon Master?" asked Mechanicles. The others muttered amongst themselves. "If this Toon Master is even half as strong as the last one, even the Juice might not be enough to defeat him."

The teenage boy, however, looked completely unperturbed. "I'll take care of the Toon Master myself." He said this with such conviction that no one dared to doubt his word. "Once we have the world leaders as hostages, we can demand that their worlds be handed over to us."

"Then we villains will be able to take over the entire Disney Sector," exclaimed Jafar. Everyone cheered as they all imagined the power they would soon wield.

In the midst of their celebration, there was another knock at the door. As before, all the villains fell silent and even the teenager in charge seemed a bit surprised. He had not been expecting any more visitors. With a nod of his head, he directed Clayton and Gaston to take up positions near the door. Both hunters drew and loaded their shotguns. At the boy's signal, they threw open the door.

Standing behind the door was Abis Mal and Haroud with Amin Damoolah between them. "Greetings, my evil friends!" shouted Abis Mal.

"Quiet, you fool," hissed Gaston as he grabbed Abis Mal and yanked him inside. Haroud followed quickly, dragging Damoolah with him. Clayton surveyed the street to make sure no one had heard Abis Mal's outburst. Satisfied that no one was around, he closed the door.

Once everyone saw who had entered, they groaned in annoyance. Most of them already knew Abis Mal as a blundering buffoon.

"Abis Mal, what are you doing here?" said the teenage boy, his voice rising threateningly. "I told you not to show your face again unless you had something worthwhile to contribute."

The Agrabanian villain trembled as he spoke, eyeing the annoyed looks cast at him. "Oh, but I do, I do." He motioned to Haroud, who threw Amin Damoolah on the ground.

"What is that?" asked Yzma.

"This is a colleague of mine," said Abis Mal. "He's smart, strong, sneaky, and is sure to be of great help to you."

"That lump of dung isn't any kind of help to anyone," said Mozenrath, a young sorcerer with the ability to control the dead. Feared throughout the Land of the Seven Deserts, he may be even more powerful than Jafar.

"You know this guy?" asked Clayton.

"He used to work for me."

"Oh and what a marvelous time I had, Sir," groveled Damoolah, terrified at the sight of his old master. "Sweeping your palace, being your test subject for magical experiments, cleaning your flying eel's litter box; fun, fun, fun."

"And now he works with you," said the boy leader.

Abis Mal quailed when he saw how angry the boy looked. "Actually, he just started today. I hardly know him. He is so fired. You can have him back," he said to Mozenrath.

"Oh, no, no please. Anything by that!" begged Damoolah.

Haroud spoke up. "Amin Damoolah might be a bungler, but he is sneaky and knows how to get into places without detection. It is when he tries to steal something that things go wrong."

"Really?" The boy leader thought about this. "I think I can find a use for you after all."

Damoolah threw himself at the boy's feet, ecstatic that he wouldn't be Mozenrath's slave again. "Oh, thank you, Sir, Your Greatness, Your Excellency, Your…"

"No need for that," said the boy, brushing off the titles Damoolah was placing on him. "You can call me, Rembrant."

3

**Looks like the roalty isn't the only ones havinga summit and Who is Rembrant? Keep reading a find out.**


	10. Chapter 10:Advanced Snobbery 101

**While the evil villains in their evil lair planned their evil plans…evilly, Tony and Mary trooped back to Toon Force One to continue Tony's good conduct training.**

To a stranger, the communications console of Toon Force One was a hopelessly complicated panel of screens spewing forth technical jargon and more blinding lights than the Las Vegas Strip. The communicators on the royal spaceship were very powerful, capable of transmitting messages from one end of the known Toon World to the other. This panel also held the sensor array which could scan for any animal, vegetable or mineral in existence. Normally, it took two people to work the communications panel, but Mary, who was already familiar with it, didn't need any help. Scanning for Mechanicles' robot centipede head was a simple task which would only take a few minutes.

At least, it would if Tony didn't keep interrupting her.

"So, what do you think sounds better?" asked the young Toon Master. "Greetings, Your Revered Royal Princess-ship or All hail the Most Majestic Majesty?"

Mary gave an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "Tony, that is way too formal for any occasion. I told you; 'Your Majesty' is fine when addressing Penny or any other member of royalty."

Tony sat backwards in the second communication panel seat, his folded arms resting on the chair backrest. "Mary, you saw the way Penny looked at me. I obviously wasn't being formal enough. You have to help me so I don't embarrass myself again." Tony let out his own frustration by slamming his palm on the console, accidentally pressing several buttons and ruining Mary's third attempt to key in the commands for the scan.

Mary closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten before answering her friend. "I'm sorry, Tony, but we have more important things to worry about right now. Besides, you already know everything you'll need to get through the rest of the Summit."

"I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with you about that, Miss Sweet."

The two Stars turned to see Steven, the Queen's Chamberlain, standing behind them. As always, his sparse gray hair and white uniform were sleek and crisp without a hair or thread out of place.

"Steve," said Tony with a smile. "How long have you been there?"

"It's Steven, Mr. Masters," the old servant said in clipped tones. Ignoring Tony's question, he announced, "Since you are to be the Princess Penny's escort, Her Majesty, Queen Bridget, has instructed me to make sure you are up to speed on proper behavior for tonight's dinner."

"Thanks Steven, but Mary here is helping me out."

"Actually, I think that's a great idea," Mary said quickly. "Steven knows lots more about etiquette than I do. He can teach you while I scan for Mechanicles. If I find anything, Jim, Tom and I can check it out."

Tony was hesitant, but he supposed Mary had a point. He followed Steven out of the communications room and into the conference room, an oval shaped room with a long wooden table and a dozen comfortable-looking padded seats arranged around it. Low bookshelves filled with books, scrolls, and royal degrees lined the walls under a row a circular windows that allowed a person to see the surrounding countryside on both sides of the spaceship.

Tony smartly sat down in one of the chairs and confidently addressed the royal servant. "Let's do this, Steve. You can finish the training Mary started."

"It's Steven," the servant said as he settled into a chair across from Tony. "Miss Sweet may have given you an _overview_ on correct etiquette," he sniffed, "however, I am here to tutor you on the more detailed and subtle rules of palace protocol."

"Well, how much of that is there to learn?"

"Oh, quite a bit," said Steven, handing Tony a pad and pencil for taking notes. Steven reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll rapped with a red ribbon. He undid the ribbon and allowed the scroll to unfurl itself off the table, across the floor and out the room. The scroll bounced down the entrance stairs of Toon Force One and Tony watched out the window as the scroll rolled across the countryside and out of side. Tony then looked through the window facing the opposite direction to see the scroll rolling back towards the plane after it had looped around the planet.

"That's the second longest set of rules I've ever seen," said Tony.

"What was the longest?" asked Steven in an offhand manner.

"My High School student handbook."

Steven studied the scroll for a moment before saying, "We shall start from the beginning and work our way down. Huh-hem; Chapter 1: Table Manners. When eating soup, always take dainty sips; never slurp. Bread baskets should be passed around the table in a clockwise rotation. Remember to keep your elbows off the table and out of the butter..."

**ONE AND ONE HALF HOURS LATER**

"...making sure the spaghetti is cut into precisely two and three-quarter inch pieces before eating. Do not use the oyster fork when eating clams. Red gelatin should be eaten after blue gelatin, but before the green."

As Steven droned on in a monotone voice, he apparently had not noticed that Tony had stopped paying attention long ago. The Toon Master sat slumped in his chair with his head hanging forward, propped up by his arm. His chest rose and fell evenly and Steven paused in his monologue only when soft snoring indicated that his star pupil had fallen asleep.

"Mr. Master? Mr. Masters?"

Tony continued to snooze.

"MR. MASTERS!"

"The French Revolution!" Tony came awake with a start and looked around wildly, expecting to be told off by an angry history teacher. He was half right.

"Mr. Master," Steven said crossly. "I was under the impression that you wanted to learn royal etiquette."

"Oh, I do, I do," insisted Tony, wiping drool from his chin. "It's just that…"

Steven cut the boy teen off. "Fine, but we still have much ground to cover. It's time for Chapter 2: Proper Posture."

"Sounds great," said Tony halfheartedly. This lesson was turning out to be more boring than anything his High School could dream up. He had to think of a way out of this. "Listen, Steven, before we continue I have to…uh…" Tony snapped his pencil in half and tossed the half with the point over his shoulder. "I have to sharpen my pencil. I'll be right back."

Tony quickly stood up and bolted out of the conference room, unaware of Steven's disbelieving glare following him out. Quietly, Tony tiptoed down the hall of Toon Force One to the exit hatch. He glanced back up the hall; Steven was still sitting down, studying his scroll. Tony leapt down the gangplank and hid himself in the massive ship's shadow. Glancing through one of the windows, Tony could see Steven was still in the conference room. With a big grin, certain that he had pulled a fast one on the old servant, Tony turned around and found himself face to face with Steven.

"Yahh!" screamed Tony, jumping backwards. "Don't do that!"

Steven seemed not to notice Tony's surprise. "Perhaps now is a good time to discuss your wardrobe for tonight. I have been instructed to purchase some new clothes for you."

Tony looked down at the tan pants and button down shirt he was wearing. "What wrong with what I've got on now?"

"I haven't the time to recite the entire list to you, sir," said Steven. "Here." He handed Tony a piece of paper and walked away, indicating that Tony should follow him.

Tony looked carefully at the paper he had been handed. "Wow, he made an actual list."

Shopping was definitely not one of Tony's favorite pastimes, especially shopping for clothes. It was just so boring. Still, it wasn't nearly as boring as having to tag along while someone else shopped for clothes. When he was young, Tony would have to go with his mom as she went to store after store and stand quietly by the woman's changing room getting pitying looks from the other kids while his mom tried on about four thousand different outfits just so she could ultimately buy absolutely nothing. What a waste. He used to fake being sick to get his mom to take him home.

_It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get out of this shopping trip so easily_, Tony thought as he watched the buildings glide past. Queen Bridget had requested – in other words, had ordered – King Gregor to make available a carriage from the Dunwyn stables for Stevens' and Tony's use since, as Steven said, the nobility never walk anywhere if they can avoid it. A good thing too, since word of the new Toon Master had reached the citizens and many of the pedestrians ran alongside the carriage, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. It made Tony very uncomfortable, which was strange; Tony didn't usually mind the attention.

The trip was made all the more unbearable by Steven who insisted they continue lessons while they traveled.

"Let us work on proper speaking," said Steven in his haughty voice. "It is important not only to say the right words, but also to say them the right way."

"The words I'd like to say probably aren't allowed in print," muttered Tony under his breath.

"How is your conjugation?" asked Steven.

Tony blinked at the old servant in surprise. "I don't know. Mom won't let me have a girlfriend until I'm at least sixteen."

"That's not what I meant," said Steven. "Can you enunciate?"

Tony folded his arms crossly and looked away, his nose in the air. "I don't think that's any of your business."

Steven was getting impatient. "No, no, you don't understand. I am trying to determine your level of grammar. Try saying this: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane."

"Well, they really shouldn't be flying in that kind of weather anyway."

"I give up." And Steven didn't say another word until the carriage lurched to a stop outside of the fanciest shop Tony had ever seen. Two thick marble pillars on either side of the sculpted entrance made the shop look like a Greek temple. Huge display windows boasted formal ware for men and women: gowns made with acres of fine material bordered with frilly lace stood alongside bright colored tunics and trousers stitched with gold threat. An ornate wooden sign hanging over the door – a spool of thread and needle – proclaimed to all in the kingdom that this was the finest tailor shop in the Dunwyn.

"_This_ is where you're going to buy _me_ clothes," asked a disbelieving Tony as he followed Steven out of the carriage.

"Of course," said the Queen's servant. "Do you not have clothing stores back home?"

"I don't think my family makes enough money to be allowed in the same zip code as a store like this."

The interior of the store was just as opulent as the exterior. The ceiling was a fresco of the Dunwyn countryside that would make Michelangelo jealous (the painter, not the ninja turtle). Thick carpeting covered every square inch of the floor, reaching from one gold-leafed wall to the other. Raised blocks stood next to triple mirrors; these areas allowed a customer to try on their selection and see it from every angle.

There were no racks of clothes, as Tony would have expected. Instead, Steven beckoned to a tall man in a flowing purple coat whom Tony guessed was the store manager. After a whispered conversation, the manager summoned several workers in plain clothes, each with a tape measure draped around their necks like scarves. The workers lead Tony through a black curtain to the changing rooms.

When Tony emerged, he was wearing one of the outfits that Steven had requested from the store manager. It immediately became apparent why Steven did not discuss the selection with Tony first; it was the ugliest thing the young Toon Master had ever seen. He was wearing lavender pants that bulged out so much he looked like a kangaroo, a vest that was a kind of tanish-green color, and a white button-down shirt with enough frills to make William Shakespeare cringe. Last of all was a shocking hot pink jacket that pinched Tony at the waist.

The store manager and Steven cast a critical eye over the uncomfortable teen stood in front of one of the triple mirrors. "Well, what do you think?" asked the manager in a high, excited voice.

Tony turned, looked the manager right in the eye and said, "You have got to be kidding me."

The manager's face dropped in disappointment. "It's the latest fashion among the Dunwyn elite. You do not like it?"

"Look at me!" exclaimed Tony, holding his arms out to the sides. "I look like a deformed balloon animal."

"Oh, but that is the finest outfit in our stock." The manager rubbed his hands together nervously and spoke delicately, not wanting to insult so important a customer. "That vest you're wearing was colored with hues from the rare Rainbow Seed Plant."

"It looks like a baby threw up on it," countered Tony.

"That jacket has a higher price than the rest of the outfit put together."

"Are you sure it came from the men's section?"

"And that shirt was hand woven from silkworms imported straight from the Chinese emperor's palace."

"Well, they wasted their time with this thing."

"That enough complaining," scolded Steven, sounding exactly like Tony's mother. "That outfit will at least allow you to look the part of an escort to the Princess of Toon World. We'll take it," he said to the manager who smiled and bowed low. The two adults went into the back to look for more outfits.

Alone, Tony forced himself to take another look in the mirror. He'd only have to wear this for one night. That's not so bad, right? Plus, he'd be able to fit in better with the nobles. That what he wanted, right?

"Maybe if I die, I won't have to go," he mumbled.

"That seems a little extreme, don't you think?"

Tony jumped so badly he almost fell off the raised step he was standing on. He looked around for the source of the voice and saw Cubbi and Tummi Gummi standing next to him.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked an astonished Toon Master. He glanced at the crowd of people passing by the shop. The windows faced away from the dressing area, so no one could see them. Still... "How did you get in here without being seen?"

Cubbi went over to another set of mirrors and pushed them away from the wall. He knocked on the wall and a small door swung slightly open. Another knock and the door closed back up, blending perfectly into the stone. "We used one of our secret passages," the young Gummi Bear explained.

Tony nodded in understanding. Of course. The Gummi Bears had a system of secret tunnels and doors throughout the entire kingdom of Dunwyn. They could appear anywhere they wanted undetected.

Tummi waddled over to Tony, staring at his ridiculous outfit the whole time. He grabbed the fabric of the pink jacket and rubbed it between his fingers. "I've never seen humans wear this kind of clothing before. At least, not all at once."

"Yeah, you look kinda silly," said Cubbi.

"I know," sighed Tony. "I'm like a jigsaw puzzle that was put together wrong. Plus, the color of this jacket totally clashes with my skin tone." Tony paused and thought hard for a moment. "Why do I know that?" He shook his head, trying to clear away such thoughts. "Anyway, did Cavin get you guys all settled in the castle?"

"Oh, yeah," said Tummi in his sleepy voice. "He found us a nice comfortable place right next to the kitchens." The blue bear licked his lips thinking of all the food he'd be able to sample.

"Tummi and I thought we'd go explore the city," said Cubbi excitedly. "We've never spent so much time in Dunwyn before."

"Neither have I," admitted Tony. "Maybe if I can get away from Steve, the three of us could..." Tony hesitated as he heard muffled footsteps coming from the back of the store. "They're coming back! You two have to get out of here."

Tummi and Cubbi bolted over to the secret passage, darted into it and moved the mirrors back into place just as Steven and the store manager appeared with many more clothes for Tony to try on. The young boy groaned in protest.

After what felt like an eternity, Tony followed Steven out of the tailor shop, his arms filled with bags and boxes of new purchases.

"Why is it…every time I meet you…I end up carrying luggage?" Tony asked Steven, grunting under the weight of the parcels. He couldn't see where he was going and thus, didn't see the thin man in ragged clothing run out of the pastry shop next door and slam into Tony, knocking them both to the ground. The parcels spilled out of Tony's hands and his new rags…clothes rather…flew everywhere.

"Watch where you're going you…" Tony started to shout, but then he got a good look at the man who hit him; it was Amin Damoolah. The dark-skinned thief did not seem to notice Tony; he was busy picking up pastries, pies, and breads that were scattered across the cobblestone street. His black hair stuck out oddly from under his turban and his hands moved at incredible speeds. He was definitely in a hurry.

"Sorry," Damoolah said without a lot of enthusiasm. "Sorry I bumped into..." It was only then that the thief looked up to see who was on the ground next to him. He jumped back, the pastries falling to the street once again. "You...you..." stammered Damoolah, his arm outstretched and pointing. "You're Tony Masters!"

"And you are Amin Damoolah," replied Tony, scowling. "My friends chased you earlier today. I want to talk to you."

It was at that moment when a portly man in a white apron and chef's hat burst out of the pastry shop door. He looked up and down the street until he spotted Damoolah. "Stop, thief! That man has stolen my best cakes!"

"Well, it was nice meeting you," said Damoolah. He shook Tony's hand roughly, scooped up his stolen goods and popped a cake into Tony's mouth. The surprised Toon Master watched Damoolah run down the street. "Bye-bye!"

Tony bit down on the cake and shouted, "Come back here...say, this is really good...you crook!"

Tony chased Damoolah down the road and into the alleyways of the city, but unlike Jim and Tom, Tony didn't know his way around Dunwyn, allowing Damoolah to get a hearty lead on the Toon Master. Still, Tony would not give up. Amin Damoolah may be the Super Star's only chance to find out about the villainous goings-on earlier that day.

Faster and faster, Tony raced on, but despite all his speed, he had completely lost sight of Damoolah.

"Oh, wow," panted Tony as he stumbled to a halt. "That little guy is faster than he looks."

It wasn't because of speed that the Agrabah thief was able to lose Tony. Damoolah had ducked inside a secret passage just like the one Cubbi and Tummi had used back in the tailor shop. And, just like that one, this passage blended in perfectly with the surrounding brown stone. But, how did the thief know it was there?

Seeing that he had shaken the Toon Master off his trail, Damoolah double-backed to the high class section of the city. If he avoided the baker shop, he might be able to swipe a few expensive trinkets. After all, a man has to make a living. Plus, there was a very important meeting he couldn't be late for.

Meanwhile, Tony was quickly getting lost in the maze of alleyways. Every turn he took was a dead end. His frustration was mounting and he was just considering transforming so he could fly up and get his bearings when a familiar voice whispered to him.

"Tony. Pssst, Tony."

Tony looked around and saw no one. When he heard the whisper again, he looked up and saw Cubbi and Tummi on the roof of a nearby building.

"That thief you were chasing went that way," whispered Cubbi, pointing to Tony's left. "Follow us."

Tony smiled and waved a silent thank you to the Bears. By following Cubbi and Tummi as they hopped from roof to roof, he made his way out of the alley maze injust a few minutes and ended up back at the shopping district. He still couldn't see Damoolah though. Tony looked up at the building roofs; the Gummi Bears had gone. He was on his own again.

"Damoolah! Where are you, you cowardly crook?"

At the moment, he was running as fast as he could. He had heard Tony's angry shout and Damoolah's only thought now was to get out of Dunwyn and fast. In his blind panic, the thief ran into yet another person – a small white-feathered girl duck in a pink dress – and knocked her to the ground.

"Waaaaahhh!" the duck balled loudly. "You pushed me down and got my new dress all dirty. Waaaahhh!"

"Oh, quite whining, kid," said Damoolah. "Or I'll give you something to really cry about."

Damoolah's threat only caused the young duck to cry even louder, drawing the attention of everyone on the street. Damoolah started to back away from the duck and the dozens of reproachful stares he was getting. He back up right into what felt like a feather pillow. He looked up to see another duck – a very large, grey-haired, angry old lady duck – scowling down at him.

"What did you do to my granddaughter?" the old duck asked in the strong voice of a governess.

Damoolah tried to act tough, even though he was terrified of this mountainous mallard before him. "Now, look here Beaky..."

"That's Mrs. Beakley to you, you scoundrel."

That was enough to break Damoolah's fragile air of confidence. He clasped his hands together before him and begged, "Please, please don't hurt me."

"I asked what you did to my granddaughter, Webigail."

"Nothing," said Damoolah. He rushed over and helped the young Webigail to her webbed feet, brushing the dust off her dress. "See, all better. No harm done. I'm very, very sorry."

"Apology accepted," said Webigail. She picked up a duck doll that was dressed in a pink dress just like her. "Now apologize to Quacky Patch for knocking her down too."

"Oh, come on," said Damoolah. "I am not apologizing to a doll."

He gulped as Mrs. Beakley bore down on him with an angry glint in her eyes.

Damoolah fell to his knees and said, "A thousand pardons oh great and forgiving Quacky Patch."

"That's better," said Webigail kindly. "We forgive you."

As Damoolah, embarrassed beyond words, was getting up, he spotted Tony appear from around a building corner at the same moment Tony saw him.

"There you are! Don't move!"

"Excuse me, ladies." And Damoolah was on his way again. Tony said a quick hello to both Webigail and Mrs. Beakley as he rushed past. Once again, Damoolah ducked into the cities alleyways, trying to lose Tony, but this time the young hero was too close. He'd catch Damoolah for sure this time. The thief turned a corner. Tony was right on his heels, his fist drawn back for a punch. Tony darted around the corner, unleashed his power and struck...a brick wall.

"Ow."

Tears leaked out of Tony's tightly shut eyes as he hopped about and messaged his scrapped hand. He didn't realize how much that would hurt without super strength. It was only when the pain subsided that the teen noticed he was standing in a dead end alleyway. Two of the walls were solid stone while the third looked to be the entrance of some kind of storage warehouse; a thick wooden door was nestled in the stone frame and the single window was covered with so much dirt, it was impossible to see through it.

Still nursing his hand, Tony searched the stone walls for more secret passages. Nothing; both walls were solid. Then, thinking that Damoolah may have scaled the walls – as was common in Agrabah – he scanned the rooftops. Nothing again. It looked like the warehouse was the only option left, so he'd have to find a way in.

Pushing against the door didn't do any good; it must have been locked from the inside. He could smash in the window and climb in that way. Could superheroes be arrested for breaking and entering while in pursuit of a villain?

He'd have to take that chance. Tony drew his Toon Sword, intending to break the glass with the hilt, but he was interrupted when Steven appeared.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" the royal servant asked angrily.

"Chasing a thief," Tony replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Didn't you see Amin Damoolah dart in here?"

"All I saw," said Stevens, "was a young boy trying to escape his duties." He grabbed Tony's shirt and hauled the young Toon Master back towards the carriage.

"But, but..." stammered Tony, pointed towards the warehouse window.

"That's enough," scolded Stevens. "Now come along, Mr. Masters, we still have to stop by the cobbler's shop to buy you six new pairs of leather loafers for tomorrow's ball."

"Why six? Won't I only need one pair?"

Steven looked outraged. "Surely you don't intent to dance with the Princess in the same shoes as you would with the minor nobility?"

"Gosh, no," said Tony, rolling his eyes. "Heaven forbid."

As Tony and Steven leave the area, a hand wiped the grime off the warehouse window and Amin Damoolah's eyes watched the hero and his servant depart. He let loose a deep sigh, but he's not alone in his relief. A second darker, colder pair of eyes was also watching.

"You almost ruined everything, you bottom feeder!" shouted Rembrant.

Damoolah cowered as the teenage villain raised his fist threateningly. "I didn't know the Toon Master was going to be near that particular baker shop."

"Months of planning nearly flushed down the drain just because you had a sugar craving."

"Even we bottom feeders get a lunch break."

"Never mind," said Rembrant. "Did you complete the task I gave you?"

Damoolah reached into his tunic and produced a tattered scroll. Rembrant grabbed it and unrolled it, squinting in the dim light. The scroll was a map of Dunwyn Castle that Igthorn had managed to draw from memory. It wasn't the castle itself that interested Rembrant, however. It was a series of lines crudely drawn by Dahmoolah to represent secret passages leading to the castle from the plains, mountains, and forest.

"I managed to find eight of them," explained the Agrabanian thief. "It wasn't easy; they're all really, really well hidden. But I, being the brilliant master thief that I am, noticed that each secret entrance had the same symbol hidden above it." Dahmoolah pointed to a corner of the map where he had drawn the symbol he saw. It was a bear's head with two round ears.

"The symbol of the Gummi Bears," breathed Rembrant. "Good work, Dahmoolah. Maybe I won't have Jafar turn you into a pile of dung after all."

"You are most generous, oh mighty Rembrant," groveled Dahmoolah on his knees.

Rembrant ignored him. He was too busy studying the map to reply. He pointed to one of the passages from the forest. "This one here looks like it goes right into the castle near the banquet hall where the ball will be held tomorrow night. Perfect. Long Feng's Dai Li agents will be providing security for the event. They can conveniently forget to guard that corridor.

"Ah...about that particular passage," Dahmoolah began. "I think it's been abandoned because it's all crumbly and the castle entrance has a lock that needs to be opened from the inside."

Rembrant didn't look the least bit worried by this news. "Not a problem. All we need is a flunky to open the door and take the blame at the same time. And I have the perfect person in mind."

8

* * *

If I din't know any better I'd say Dahmoolah would be better off as a speed bumb or a mime. This Rembrant Guy seems to be a bit more devious then your normal villan. I'm pretty sure we all know who the flunky is to open the tunnle door.


	11. Chapter 11:Mr Fancy Pants

I'm pretty sure by the tile you can guess What happens in this chapter, all ihave to say is...LETS PARTY!

* * *

"I was not able to find any sign of Clayton, Mechanicles, or any other villain."

Not only was Mary exhausted, she was also very disappointed with herself. Despite spending the afternoon scanning the entire Dunwyn countryside with the Toon Force One sensors for any evil activity, she had come up empty handed. Normally that would have pleased her as proof that there was no evil around and the Leader's Summit would go smoothly. However, the Super Stars knew that something was brewing and it nagged the young ninja that they had not been able to discover it.

It was for that reason that Mary had personally gone to Penny's parents and requested that the Super Stars be allowed to attend the fancy dinner being held inside Dunwyn castle. Normally, they wouldn't be allowed; no fighters or soldiers were generally present during the Leader's Summit events in order to keep things as democratic as possible. In lieu of recent events, both King Magnus and King Gregor were inclined to bend the rules.

So now, Mary, Tom, and Jim stood off to the side of the double doors that lead into the dining room where the feast was to take place. The long rectangular room had been set up with dozens of round tables draped with spotless white linen. A red carpet marked an aisle between the tables where the guests had presented themselves to King Gregor. Golden plates were shining and jeweled goblets glittered under the hundreds of castles standing perfectly erect in the ornate chandelier above. Flags from each of the planets attending the summit hung proudly over the arched windows. At the far end of the room was a long table reserved for King Gregor and his guests of honor.

No one had sat down yet. All the world leaders were milling together, continuing discussions and arguments from earlier meetings. Mary could see the princesses Snow White and Cinderella chatting with each other while their respective Prince Charmings hovered nearby. She also saw the bald, blue, oblong head of the Grand Councilwoman of the Galactic Federation facing the two-mouthed female alien president of the Galactic Alliance. Both organization were composed of hundred of planets and held great influence within the Disney Sector government.

Mary turned away from people-watching and continued her own discussion with Tom and Jim. "Did you guys managed to find anything?"

Tom shook his head sadly. "Nothing. Zilch. Nada. We tried going back to the place where we lost Amin Dahmoolah, but no luck."

"And what's worse," added Jim, "I found out that cute pretzel stand girl isn't even at the summit this year. It seems her father's business went bankrupt."

"Really?" Mary asked innocently. "Who could have known?"

The wooden double doors of the throne room were pushed smoothly open by two pages as a third marched smartly into the room and in a crisp, clear voice announced, "Presenting the royal family of Toon World: King Magnus, Queen Bridget, and Princess Penny Illestra." The page stepped aside as the King and Queen, arm in arm, glided gracefully into the room. All conversation stopped as everyone bowed their heads in respect. The King and Queen acknowledged the other leaders with warm smiles and small nods.

As she made her way across the throne room, Queen Bridget glanced back over her shoulder with a scowl. Penny was loitering in the doorway and had not followed her parents. With an imperceptible jerk of her head, the Queen motioned for her daughter to join them. Most unwillingly, Penny obliged, stepping out of the shadows. She was wearing a frilly lime green ball gown with lace all long the hem. Penny was obviously uncomfortable in it, as evidence by the grimace on her face. Queen Bridget's scowl deepened in warning. Penny noticed and flashed a great big fake smile, doing her best to pretend that she wanted to be there. That was good enough for the Queen, who turned back toward her husband.

The instant she did, Penny scooted backwards and joined the Super Stars. "I look like an umbrella in this thing."

"Oh, come on," admonished Mary. "You look lovely."

"Seriously, you do," agreed Tom.

"Yeah, if didn't already have a date, I'd totally be willing to be seen with you," said Jim.

"Why Jim, you sure know how to make a girl feel special," said Penny. She had to smile though. She knew Jim didn't mean any insult by it – just good natured ribbing between friends.

"Um, speaking of dates," said Mary, glancing around the room, "isn't there supposed to be a certain boy hero with you?"

"I haven't seen Tony all day," said Penny. "I just figured he was still with you guys."

"We haven't seen him since this afternoon," said Jim.

"Maybe he was smart and escaped from this place when he had the chance," muttered Penny.

"I don't think so. Look." Tom pointed at another page that had entered the throne room.

"Presenting the Toon Master: Tony Masters."

Trumpets blew a fanfare as Tony entered the room. He was wearing that awful outfit that Steven had made him try on earlier: lavender pants, tan-green vest, white frilly shirt and pink jacket. It was unbelievably uncomfortable. Tony had to stand there with his back straight and his stomach tucked in just so the tight jacket wouldn't cut him in half. As it was, the collar of the shirt was so taut against his neck it threatened to decapitate him. He had to keep his head still to stop it from cutting deeper. The only upside was that the entire ensemble gave the illusion that Tony had excellent posture.

The Super Stars gawked at seeing their friend dressed in such a way.

"Oh, I wish I brought my camera," laughed Jim. "This is good for six, no eight months of blackmail at least."

"I think he looks very…very…" Mary looked up as she mentally searched for the right word.

"Stupid?" offered Tom.

"I was going to say…Actually, I was going to say stupid."

"Hmph!" snorted Penny. More of her mother's handiwork. Still, having Tony there completed her circle of close friends and helped to lighten her dark mood.

Tony stood, stiff as a board, as Penny made her way to him. He would have waved, but he was having trouble moving any part of his body. It had taken a lot of effort just to walk in the room. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer. He reached up and tried to ease the pressure from his collar. The fabric of his clothes crackled like paper as he bent his arm.

"I don't remember these clothes being this tight in the tailor shop," he muttered to himself.

Steven, who had entered the room discretely behind Tony, leaned in close and whispered, "I took the liberty of having the castle seamstresses adjust them for you."

Tony made a mental note to borrow Tom's mace so he could thank Steven later.

The old servant glared at the young boy as he tugged at his collar. "Stop that! The princess is coming. Remember what he practiced." Steven retreated to stand by the wall, making sure Tony could still him.

"It looks like they stuck you in a goofy outfit too, huh?" asked Penny with a broad smile.

Tony glanced over at Steven, who gave him the smallest of nods. Adopting an emotionless tone and with an expressionless face, Tony bowed low and said, "How do you do, Princess Penny? It is a pleasure to have the honor of being your escort this evening."

Penny faltered at her friend's over-the-top formal tone. "Tony, there's no need for any of that la-de-da stuff between us. You know that."

"Ah, but princess," said Tony raising a finger in the air, "such social conventions are what separate ourselves from the barbarians."

With his chest puffed out, Tony walked pompously into the crowd of waiting rulers and dignitaries. Steven gave a small, proud smile at how far his student had progressed. Penny, meanwhile, was dumbfounded. She had never heard Tony talk that way, with such arrogance, especially since they both new several barbarians. Good people, if a bit messy.

Penny rushed to catch up to Tony, like a chick following a mother hen. Tony mostly ignored her though as he strode, head held high, down the carpeted aisle. Royals, noblemen, and heroes – many of whom had known Theodore – paused in their conversations, straining to catch a better look at this newest Toon Master. Many called out greetings, but Tony ignored them too, except for a few of the upper echelon of Toon World rulers whom he graced with a slight nod or wave.

"Aren't you going to say hello to them?" asked Penny, appearing at Tony's side.

"First things first, my dear Princess." When he reached the head table, Tony dropped to one knee and bowed his head low. Addressing first King Magnus, and then King Gregor, Tony said, "It is my privilege to dine with you tonight, your Majesties."

King Gregor took this announcement in stride, but King Magnus was more than a little surprised at the sudden change in Tony's character. He frowned as he began to fear that the political influences he had warned Tony about before had begun to take hold. Queen Bridget, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased at the Toon Master bowing before them. Her lips twisted into a smug smile that made Penny's skin crawl.

"We are delighted to have you with us, Toon Master," the Queen said like a spider about to trap a fly.

Only after the two kings had also given their approval of Tony's presence did he stand up. He greeted Princess Calla with a dainty kiss on her hand. Calla smiled warmly and tried to engage Tony in conversation, specifically about the battle at Gummi Glen Penny had mentioned to her. (Of course, she refrained from actually saying Gummi Glen in front of everyone. Big secret!) Tony, however, refused to speak of it, even to Penny, and insisted on droning on about how wonderful the castle looked and how beautiful Calla's blue dress was. The girls quickly became bored.

"Tony," said King Magnus, "There's someone I've been meaning to introduce you to."

Tony waited politely as King Magnus motioned with his hand. Four figures detached themselves from the crowd of Disney Toons and walked over. Tony instantly recognized them as the pinnacle of Disney animated characters: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. They looked the same, but were dressed much differently than any cartoon Tony had ever seen them in. Mickey was quite handsome in his red tunic and pants adorned with yellow pockets and a silver trim. Minnie glided along in a pink and red dress. Both mice wore crowns. Donald was dressed like a wizard with blue robes and a pointed hat while Goofy played the part of a knight with a yellow and blue tunic and mismatched pieces of armor. He held a shield with Mickey's emblem in his hand.

"May I present," said King Magnus, "King Mickey and Queen Minnie, rulers of the Disney Sector of Toon World."

"Gosh, ha ha, it's great to see you again, Magnus. And you too, Gregor," said Mickey in his squeaky voice. "I believe you've met my Court Wizard, Donald, and Goofy, my Captain of the Guards."

"Oh, and this must be the Toon Master we've heard so much about," said Minnie sweetly.

"Yes, this is Tony Masters," said King Magnus.

Mickey held out his hand to shake Tony's. At any other time, the young fan would be foaming at the mouth to meet such a famous Toon, with his autograph book ready. Now, though, Tony ignored Mickey's hand and gave him the same respectful, if impersonal, greeting he had given King Magnus. Donald and Goofy tried to say hi too, but Tony didn't so much as glance at them.

"I'm sure the world leaders are in good hands with the Toon Master here," said Minnie. "Is it true that there are villains lurking about?"

Tony waved off the question. "I'm sure it's nothing the staff cannot handle."

That was the most shocking thing Penny had heard Tony say yet: referring to the Super Stars – his friends – as staff.

Mary managed to slide up next to Penny, unseen by the royals. "So, how's everything going?"

"Did you hear what Tony just said?" hissed Penny furiously. "Nothing the staff can't handle. Like he expects everyone to do everything for him. He's become just like every other pompous, princely escort I've ever had. And the bowing and scraping. That's not him. How'd he learn to act like that? What's gotten into him?"

"Um…"

Penny turned to Mary and saw her face had turned beet red with guilt. "Is that an 'um' as in 'I don't know what could've gotten into him' or an 'um' like 'I do know, but I don't want to tell you because it'll just make you madder'?"

"Well…" Mary never noticed until just that moment how much Penny looked like her mother when she was angry. "Now don't be too mad. Tony was so nervous and I was just trying to help him out by teaching him some polite ways to greet royalty and what to say and…

"Wait. You were teaching Tony the rules of high society?"

"A little bit."

Penny was horrified. She could only gape, wide eyed and slack jawed at her friend. "Mary, how could you? You know those rules were designed by high class people just to insult the lower classes."

"Hey, you can't blame me for all of that," Mary shot back, indicating Tony's newfound snobbishness. "I certainly didn't teach him that."

"Well, what did you teach him?"

"I just went over the basics while we were in the woods today," explained Mary. "Then, we fought Mechanicles and Clayton and I was using Toon Force One's scanner so Steven took over with Tony and…

"Hold up," Penny interrupted. "Tony has been with Steven all afternoon."

"I guess," shrugged Mary.

Penny glanced around and found Steven standing against the wall, as stiff as a statue. She followed his eyes to her mother, Queen Bridget, who gave a very small nod of approval to her servant.

"Of course," breathed Penny. "It all makes sense now. My mother ordered Steven to turn Tony into the perfect little gentleman. Why that conniving…"

Whatever else Penny would have said was drowned out by the Royal Chef's announcement that dinner was ready. Tony took Penny's arm and led her to the head table. Penny went most unwillingly.

"He isn't at all how you described him, Magnus," said Mickey, referring to Tony.

"Yes, well," said King Magnus, unsure of what to say. The best he could come up with was, "He's still new to the post."

"What a rude guy," quacked Donald in his almost impossible to understand voice.

"And he dresses kinda funny, too," said Goofy.

From his vantage point at the head table, Tony could observe all the other Toons seated at the circular tables as they were being served. Steven and Queen Bridget might lecture how the upper class is so much more refined than the commoners, but even high society Toons are still Toons.

At one table, the Queen of Hearts was demanding her dinner. "Somebody's head will roll if I don't get my dinner in five seconds!" A waiter carrying a silver tray with a lid burst out of the kitchen and, panting heavily, just made it to red Queen's seat in 4.87 seconds.

"Ah, at last. Thank you." The Queen lifted the lid to reveal a beautifully prepared smoked salmon. It looked delicious, but Sebastian the Crab – representing the Kingdom of Atlantica –didn't think so.

The crustacean composer shrieked in horror at the Queen's plate. "Jerry, is that you, mon? Say something!"

It was the Queen of Hearts that said something. Grabbing her steak knife, she proclaimed, "Off with his head!" and decapitated the salmon.

Sebastian stiffened and fainted right off the table.

At another table, Emperor Kusko was having a little trouble trying to add the right seasoning to his meal. He peered closely at the saltshaker in his hand and said, "Uh, I asked for the pepper. Not the salt. Salty me no likey."

"Here, let me help you with that," said Merlin, an old wizard and chief advisor to King Arthur of Camelot. He waved his hands with a flourish and spoke the magic words: "Slicious. Aqualitous. Geologous." One flash of light and smoke later, the salt was still salt, but Kusko had been turned into a furry, brown squirrel.

"Oh, dear," said Merlin. "That's not what I was going for at all. I'm terribly sorry."

"That's all right," said Kusko the Squirrel. "Happens all the time."

Tony watched as similar bouts of Tooniness broke out here and there among the tables. Normally, he'd find it all so very funny, but he did his best to ignore it and hold his laughter in.

"Vulgar display isn't it?"

Tony turned to Queen Bridget on his left side. Her smile was broader now. The spider had lured the fly deep into her web.

The Queen nodded to the circular tables and said, "Simply disgusting, don't you think, Mr. Masters? They behave like children instead of refined adults, such as we."

Tony smiled politely back and said, "Oh, absolutely, Your Majesty. Very intelligent of you to say so." With his pinky finger extended, Tony plucked a fork from the vast number arranged next to his plate and began to delicately eat his salad.

"Oh, Princess," said Tony, looking over to Penny's plate, "Forgive me for pointing this out, but you are using the wrong fork."

"Huh?" Penny was slouched to one side in her chair and picking at her food with disinterest. She looked at Tony like he was the weirdest thing she had ever seen.

"You're using a dinner fork which, of course, should never be used for salad." Tony reached over and plucked another fork from Penny's place setting and handed it to her. She stared; both forks looked identical to her.

"Since when do you care about using a salad fork?" she asked Tony hotly. "Since when do you know what a salad fork is?"

Tony chuckled airily. "Why, Princess, I learned about them from The Royal Rules of Etiquette. Stevens has a copy if you'd like to borrow it."

"I'm sure he does," muttered Penny. A sly smile crossed her lips as a clever idea crossed her mind. "So, Tony, you read The Rules, did you?" She reached for a covered tray on the table and presented it to Tony. "Then you must know that it is common courtesy to try every dish the chef prepared. Would you like to partake?"

"Why, thank you. I'd love…" That's as far as Tony got before Penny lifted the cover and unveiled the dish underneath. Tony recoiled in disgust when he saw it. "What are those?"

"Escargot," Penny said. "A delicacy reserved only for the upper class."

Tony blurted out, "Those are snails." He was right. On the plate were over two dozen snails; gooey grey flesh oozing under spiral shells. "There are snails on that plate." He took a closer look and his voice became a little more hysterical. "Those snails are moving. Those snails are alive. There are live, moving snails on that plate."

"You wouldn't want to insult King Gregor or his chef, would you?" Penny asked innocently. "Such bad manners."

"Of…course…not." He looked back at Queen Bridget, who gave Tony a look reminiscent of one of his High School teachers when they knew he wasn't putting in his best effort. He glanced over to Steven, who was still standing by the wall. He looked a little sickened by the snails, but gave Tony a reluctant nod.

Tony reached for the shell of one of the snails. His hand was shaking so much he almost dropped it. Up close, the snail looked like some kind of weird bug with no eyes and two big antennas. He had to swallow several times before it felt safe to open his mouth. The little creature had barely touched his tongue when Tony threw it away, covered his mouth, put an arm across his stomach and raced out of the dining room. Everyone paused as the loud sound of retching could be heard from the corridor.

Out in the hall Tony's body lay slump over the window which he had vomited through just seconds before, as he picked himself up he slammed his fist on the windowsill. "I did it again" he muttered angrily, "No matter how hard I try I keep screwing up." Tony debated wither or not he should even go back to the dining room when he saw Penny blocking his path.

"Did you not like the snails?" she said in a clearly mocking tone.

Tony was already mad, and this was not helping, "What was with that stunt back there?" he asked, "Why did you set me up?"

"That was payback for this idiocy you're trying to pull!" demanded Penny.

"What? Do you mean this?" Tony fumed as he pulled on his clothing.

"Yes! You were acting like a total snob. Not to mention that stunt you pulled in the courtyard this morning."

"How many times do I have to say it, I'm sorry!" The young hero was getting irritated. "I wasn't just going to stand there and let Cavin get bullied. As for dinner, I was trying to blend in. I was trying _not_ to embarrass you."

"Well that went well, didn't it!" said Penny, who was getting angry. "No one in that room bought your act. Now everyone thinks that the Toon Master is either a faker or a snob. They are never going to take you seriously!"

By this time the other stars, along with Princess Calla, were listening in on the argument. Tony's own anger was now showing on his face. "No one takes _ME_ seriously! _I'M_ acting! Oh please, if anyone here deserves an Oscar, it's _YOU_!" Tony shouted, pointing at Penny. "You don't think everyone can see that you don't want to be here? Every word that comes out of your mouth is dripping with distain! Who do you think you're fooling?"

"I may not hide my feelings, but at least I know how to act!" Penny shouted back,. "I'd rather know what I'm doing then be some idiot trying to fake it!"

"I'd rather fake it then be some spoiled BRAT!"

Penny was in shock. She lowered her head to hide her eyes. "Even if I am a brat," she said softly, "I can still respect myself for it…Can you?" With that, she turned and stormed down the hall. As Penny left, Tony could tell that he really messed up. Tony turned and headed back to Toon Force One feeling angry and horrible. The Stars and Calla looked at one another and quietly left. Jim and Tom went back to dinner, while Calla and Mary followed Penny. In a corner of the entry way, Steven stepped out of the shadows, a very solemn look was on his face.

The stars twinkled in night sky while the full moon cast a soft glow over Dunwyn. A slight breeze was blowing through the city streets. All the vendors had closed their shops and went to bed. There was little activity in the city say for a few servants gathered outside the parked ships.

Tony lay on the top of Toon Force One and just stared into space. After he arrived back at the ship ,Tony went straight to his room to change. He thought he might work off some stress on the practice field, but then he'd probably get in trouble for making too much noise. So Tony thought about going for a walk or a flight in the night air. Of course, he would probably get yelled at for misuse of his powers. Every idea Tony had, society had a rule for. Tony was beginning to feel like a big animal trapped inside a small cage. With little choice left, Tony made his way to the top of the ship. From his perch, Tony looked down on a scene. Servants from many of the visiting ships were laughing, having fun and just enjoying the moment. No one worried about their status or their stock bonds. They didn't care what the world thought of them, they just wanted to have a good time. Tony just sat there wondering how he could fix this mess.

He stared at the stars hoping for an epiphany, the more Tony thought the more depressed he became. "Now I know why movie stars are nuts, they've gone crazy from depression," he said to himself. "What am I doing wrong? How did you do this stuff Grandpa? How did you fit in?"

"He didn't."

Tony raised his head back to see Steven coming from the hatchway leading to the ships interior. "It would seem that the Princess is not the only one who likes coming up here," said Steven as he stood next to Tony.

"Penny looks at the stars too?" asked Tony, confused.

"Oh yes. Princess Penny loves the stars, as I'm sure you well know," said Steven in a knowing voice. Tony raised an eyebrow in suspicion. The only time he had seen or spoke to Steven, he seemed unapproachable, the all business type, but seeing him now, his personality seemed very subdued. Steven took a few steps past Tony and looked at Castle Dunwyn.

"You're trying to hard" said Steven flatly.

"What?" replied Tony.

"Trying to act by high society's rules. You're trying to hard," Steven repeated.

"Gee, by the way you worked me over before dinner today, I thought I wasn't trying hard enough," said Tony in an almost irritated tone.

Steven sighed, "My apologies for that I was simply doing what her Majesty, the Queen, felt was necessary. I have seen you train and you seemed a quick study. I had thought you would have caught on rather quickly."

"Sorry to disappoint you Steven, but I'm not the Flash" replied Tony in a snotty tone.

"You're right, you have better table manners" said Steven with a smile.

Tony got up on to his elbows. "Did you just tell a joke?" asked Tony in mild shock.

"I have many talents," sated Steven as he turned to face Tony. "One of which is to be able to play to both the royals and commoners."

"Let me guess," Tony said feeling he was about to be insulted. "I have no class and am unfit to be anywhere near the royal family, let alone Princess Penny."

"Actually, you could be just what the doctor ordered."

Tony was now sitting straight up, staring in disbelief.

"Your Grandfather, when he first became Toon Master, he did not blend into society very well either. As hard as he tried, he just could not please everyone. So one day he stopped. He decided if he could not please everyone by society's rules, he'd do things his own way."

Tony sat there stunned, after a few seconds he found his voice. "How much more of a fool did I have to make of myself till you told me this?" said Tony, now on his feet.

"My apologies," said Steven as he bowed, "but I felt it necessary to at least try to teach you the proper way to act. I now see that you are indeed your grandfather's grandson." Tony felt proud to hear that. Steven then continued, "You are aware of where Penny has spent a good amount of her life?"

"Yes. She lived with her Uncle, Inspector Gadget," answered Tony.

Steven nodded, "Correct. She lived with no rules on how she dresses, acts, or says. Basically…"

"She was free from society…a normal girl," finished Tony. He slapped himself in the head. "I can't believe I didn't see it. It was so obvious." Tony did not move for a moment, thinking of what he could do to fix things. "OK, new plan. I need to show Penny she can be herself and a princess at the same time."

Steven had a skeptical look on his face, but spoke in a knowing tone. "And how do you plan on doing that?"

Tony gave a wide smile, "By being ME!" He grabbed Stevens arm. "Come on Steven, my makeover needs a makeover."

7

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By Jove I think he's got it...Bout time too. All that Toon Trivia rolling around in Tony's head and he still made fool of himself...of course with out that the story would be a bit boring. any way final chapter coming up.


	12. Chapter 12:Let's Dance

**Our last Chapter Tony and Penny had a slight miscommunication...Alright they almost started Toon War 3. Tony seems to have come to his sences Lets hope penny does before the party tomorrow night.**

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The echo of high heeled shoes could be heard though the empty hallways of the castle as Penny stormed down the corridor. A bundle of anger, rage, sadness, envy, and a large feeling she could not explain were a hurricane in her mind. Penny suddenly came to a halt. She was about to scream out her frustration when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around to see Mary and Calla. The two just looked at her with sympathetic eyes. The trio silently made their way to Calla's room.

Calla went in first to 'quickly straighten up'. The first thing the girls decided was to get Penny out of that umbrella dress. Penny tried to sit on Callas bed to get off her shoes, but Calla pushed her into a chair. Penny then tried to get a hanger for her dress but Calla got it for her instead. Penny was starting to get the feeling that Calla was hiding something. She looked at Mary, but got no reaction. A few minutes later, Penny was in a green night gown she borrowed from Calla.

The three just sat there in silence. Calla and Mary waited patiently for Penny to open up.

"I take it you both saw what happened?" asked Penny.

Both girls nodded. Mary placed her hand on Penny's. "I'm sorry, Penny," she said apologetically, "I should have never agreed to teach Tony in the first place."

Penny looked at her and gave a warm smile. "It's not your fault Mary. You have nothing to apologize for. You were only trying to help." Mary smiled at Penny. "It's that idiot of a hero that's to blame," said Penny fuming again. "If he had any brains at all, he would have just stayed away from anything my mother was involved with."

Mary shook her head while Calla rolled her eyes.

"Ok, ok, we get it. You're mad," said Mary

"But did you have to yell at him?" asked Calla. "Tony was only trying not to embarrass you."

Penny turned her head in shock. "What! Don't tell me you're taking his side!"

"No, but what did he do wrong to begin with?" asked Calla calmly.

"Tony has done nothing but make a mockery of everything the Toon Master stands for. He's incompetent, unprofessional, egotistical…"

"Bite your tongue, young lady!"

Penny, Calla, and Mary gasped as an elder orange-furred female bear in a blue skirt and white apron came out of Calla's closet. Grammy Gummi marched over to Penny and looked at her like a misbehaving child. "Just because you're mad, doesn't give you the right to talk about someone that way."

From under the bed, a smaller yellow, younger female bear in green clothing grabbed Grammi's arm. "Grammi!" hissed Sunni, "That's Princess Penny! She's the princess of the whole Tooniverse."

"That doesn't mean she can talk rudely about people," said Grammy sternly.

Penny was shocked to see real live Gummi Bears. Calla had her face in her hands while shaking her head and Mary was pinching the bridge of her nose. "Y…you're…you're…," Penny stammered.

"We're Gummi bears. I'm Grammi and this is Sunni," said the elder bear. "Now I can understand that you're angry about the way Tony acted. He should have known better. But you can't be mad at Tony for not knowing any better, can you?

Penny was about to rebut when she realized that Grammi was right. Tony had only five hours to learn a lifetime's worth of society rules. "I don't believe this," said Penny.

"What?" asked Sunni.

"I've been so wrapped up in being mad at my mother, I took it out on Tony. I guess I'm the real idiot," said Penny with a small smile. Calla and Mary got up and gave her a hug. The rest of the night the group talked and for once this entire trip, Penny had some fun.

The next day was less adventurous then the previous one. All the servants were running around tending to the visiting royalty and getting things ready for the Celebration Ball that night. The staff was so busy they failed to notice two visitors to the ball room. One was a man with blond hair wearing a blue suit and a pair of glasses. His most noticeable feature was that his right hand appeared to be made of stone. With him was Lex Luthor's personal body guard and assistant, Mercy. The duo headed to the back of the room where a single servant was working.

The servant was tall with darker skin. Without turning around, the servant asked, "May I help you?"

"We were asked to make sure all preparations for tonight's gala were going well," said the man in the blue suit.

"Please assure Mr. Xanatos and Mr. Luthor that all preparations are preceding fine, Mr. Owen," replied the servant as he turned, revealing the face of Haroud. "All is going according to plan."

As the sun set, a caravan of elegantly dressed royalty could be seen entering Castle Dunwyn. The banquet hall was decorated with elegant tapestries and streamers around the columns near the wall size windows. Everyone was dressed in their best; even the servers had their uniforms pressed. Tom and Jim were standing near the refreshment table. Jim looked at all the young Ladies in Waiting, planning on who he was going to give the honor of having him ask to dance while Tom was rolling his eyes and getting some punch.

"So, you two having fun?" asked a familiar voice.

Tom nearly spit out his punch when he saw Mary. She was in a simple purple dress that came down to her ankles and her hair was in curls.

Jim turned to look at Mary, "Wow! You don't look half bad."

"I would have sworn you were one of the princesses," said Tom, not really realizing what he said. Mary gave a small giggle and a slight blush.

"You look quite handsome yourself," she said. "Have either of you seen Penny or Tony?"

Jim scratched his head, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Tony all day."

"Last time I saw him was last night. He was talking to Steven," answered Tom. "Maybe Penny is with them."

"Well, why don't we ask her," said Jim pointing over to a group of princesses. Princesses Calla, Marie, Penny, and Savina were walking over to the refreshment table, all the while trying to avoid Penny's mother. Penny wore a spaghetti strap orange-red ball gown that hid her feet, but complimented her perfectly. The same small tiara complimented her hair, which was braded and across her shoulder. She was looking all over the room; apparently she couldn't find Tony either. Penny noticed the other stars and took the rare opportunity to talk to her friends.

"Mary, you look great" said Penny

"Why, thank you" Mary said. "And you look lovely, as always."

"Yeah, Penny, you look great," said Tom.

"Thank you, Tom. This was one of the only dresses I got to pick out," said Penny as she looked behind her. "You haven't seen Tony, have you?"

The three shook their heads. Penny sighed, "Well, how am I supposed to apologize to him if he's not around?"

"Why would you need to apologize?" asked another familiar voice.

When Penny turned to the voice, she, along with the others, were surprised. There stood Tony wearing a black tux with a white shirt as well as a vest and bow tie to match Penny's dress. His hair was slightly gelled, to give him more of that James Bond look. Penny could only stare; this couldn't the same guy from last night. For some reason, she felt a small blush on her cheeks. Everyone else was just as surprised as Penny. Princess Marie, being as forward as she was, simply looked him over and said in her slight French ascent, "My, my, my, don't you clean up well."

Tony gave a small bow. "Thank you your highness. You look very nice this

evening as well."

Marie curtsied in reply. She then got in close to Penny and said, "You know Penny, if you still want to go and hide from your mother, I'll be more than happy take Tony off your hands for you."

Penny was suddenly filled with rage at the thought of Marie dancing with Tony. Before she could say anything, Long Feng approached the group. He bowed to the Princesses and greeted the Super Stars before turning back to Penny. "Greetings, Your Highness. I noticed you are without your escort," he smiled. "I would be more then honored if I could dance with you."

"Sorry to disappoint," said Tony taking Penny's hand, "but her escort is right here."

"And who are you?" asked Long Feng in an irritated tone.

"The name is Masters…Tony Masters," replied Tony in his best Shawn Connery impression.

Long Feng was surprised when he heard this, but quickly recovered. "My apologies, Mr. Masters. I didn't recognize you without your dinner attire on." He smirked, hopping to remind Tony of his embarrassing actions at dinner the previous night.

Tony just shrugged, "Yes, well, I can't look like an idiot all the time. I save that for special occasions."

Long Feng was taken aback; he certainly was not expecting such confidence from Tony. The stars on the other hand were greatly relieved that they had their leader back. Calla, Maria and Savina were amused at how Tony was handling himself.

Tony noticed this and pressed the advantage. "I'm actually glad I ran in to you Mr. Feng."

Long Feng raised an eyebrow to this. "Really? For what reason?"

Tony gave a small bow. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night."

A smug smile could be seen on Long Feng's face. "I understand and accept your apology. I guess the rules of high society can be difficult for anyone unrefined to learn."

The group of teenagers both royal and common looked at Long Fe in anger. Tony just smiled. "True society has many rules. I just hope the king is as understanding as you."

"The king?" asked Long Feng.

"Yes, the king of Ba Sing Se. I am planning a trip to personally apologize to him for my behavior," replied Tony with a sly smile.

Long Feng seemed to be unnerved a little. "It is unnecessary for you to make such a trip. I can simply relay your message."

Tony's smile grew. "Nonsense. I would never put you in such a position," Tony protested. "You are the Earth Kingdom's ambassador. If I insult you, I insult the king and I could not live with myself if I didn't go and give my apology in person. Besides, I've been meaning to visit your world. I've wanted to meet the Avatar. I hear he's a pretty cool guy."

A small twinge of what could only be described as could be seen in Long Feng's eyes. This only lasted a moment before he collected himself. "I would be most honored if you would allow me to make the necessary preparations for your arrival," said Long Fe, bowing.

"Thank you, that would be a great help," said Tony, smiling.

Long Feng nodded. Tony watched as he left and headed to speak with Luthor and Xanatos. He turned back to the others who had been silent the entire time. All of the Stars and the three Princesses just stared at him. Tony just cocked his head in confusion. "What?"

"Dude, I have never seen anyone get under Long Feng's skin," said Jim in disbelief. "That…was…AWESOME!"

"Good to see you back to your old self," Tom said.

Mary gave him a small hug and smiled. "See, I told you, you would be fine."

He looked at Penny, who had a smile on her face. "I'm glad you're back to normal, but where have you been all day?"

"I've been going around to all of the rulers and everyone to give them an apology," explained Tony. "I just could not just sit around and let everyone think the Toon Master was a snob, which reminds me." Tony bowed again this time to Penny, the Stars ,and the three princesses. "I would like to apologize for my behavior last night. I am sorry if I insulted or offended any of you. Please accept my sincerest of apologies"

Tom put his hand on Tony's shoulder. "No sweat, we know you have a few screws lose. It happens."

"Yeah, some of us need to learn the hard way," said Jim with a smug smile.

Tony arched his eyebrow and smiled. "This coming from the guy who tried to get a date with another guy dressed as a girl." Jim's face turned beet red as Tom, Tony, and Mary laughed. Penny was relieved to see Tony back to his old self. She was brought out of her daze when she noticed that Calla, Savina, and Marie were staring at her. They just looked at her then started to giggle.

"What's so funny?" asked Penny

"You like him, don't you?" asked Calla in a whisper.

Penny's face turned red. "What! Tony! No way! He's way too immature!" she stated.

"Then you won't mind if I ask him to dance," said Marie.

Penny looked at her with both shock and anger; this caused the princesses to laugh harder.

That was when King Mickey got everyone's attention, "I want to thank you all for coming to this year's Summit. We are honored that Dunwyn was chosen to hold the Leader's Summit and I would like to thank King Gregor and Princess Calla for being a wonderful host and hostess." Everyone clapped as King Gregor and Calla bowed and curtsied at the applause. Once the crowd died down, King Mickey continued, "I hope you have all enjoyed yourselves and well, ha ha, have fun dancing, ha ha." When the band began to play, people started to fill the dance floor.

Tony turned to Penny and extended his hand. "I believe I owe you a dance, Penny."

Penny smiled, "Just make sure those funky moves of yours keep you on your feet this time," she said with a giggle and took his hand and proceeded to the dance floor. Tom offered Mary his hand and they followed suit. Jim dusted off his coat and straightened his hair to ask one of the three other princesses if they would like to dance, but when he turned around they were gone. Slightly disappointed, he continued his search for a dance partner. While dancing, Tony noticed Tom and Mary and pointed them out to Penny.

"It's nice to see them relaxing for a change," said Tony.

"We seem to be doing that a lot since you got here," commented Penny.

"You know what they say: All work and no play make the heroes easy targets," Tony replied. Penny giggled a bit.

Penny watched as Mary and Tom talked and laughed. "I envy them," Penny whispered.

"I know I'm not the greatest dancer, Penny, but give me some credit," said Tony in a fake mocking tone.

Penny gave Tony a stern look. "That's not what I meant. I envy them because they can just be themselves. They don't have to worry about setting a good example for their people." Tony could tell where this conversation was heading. "Never having to be told what to wear. Never being told where you can go or what you can do…" Her voice became quiet. "Never being told who you can love."

This last comment made Tony blush. Penny realized what she had said and quickly corrected herself. "I was referring to arranged marriages."

"Oh…yeah of course…arranged marriages," said Tony nervously.

The conversation seemed to come to a halt until Tony braved asking a question. "Penny I know it's none of my business but… Why do you and your mom always seem to argue?"

Penny just looked at him; a small scowl stared back at him.

"Sorry" said Tony, "I didn't meat to make you angry."

Penny let out a long sigh. "That's fine." Penny took Tony's hand and lead him to a small balcony near the ball room. She thought it would be best to have this conversation in private. "I guess the arguments my mother and I have go far beyond that of regular teenager and parent. The problem is that I just don't like the way high society treats people. My mother tries to get me to act like people are nothing if they don't have a title or royal blood."

"Why don't you try changing that?" asked Tony.

"I have," she replied, annoyed. "Why do think we get in to so many arguments?"

Tony thought for a moment then asked, "Do you put all your energy in being a princess?"

"What kind of a question is that?" asked Penny, half surprised, half annoyed.

"It's just that I see you put your heart into being a Super Star. I can't help but think you should put your heart into being a princess," stated Tony. The thought rumbled through Penny's mind for a few seconds until she heard Tony say, "I really shouldn't talk though, I hardly put any energy into school or band."

"Band?" asked Penny. Tony explained what happened between him and his parents and with the band tryout. "Well, it would seem we are in the same boa,t" said Penny flatly.

"Yup," replied Tony. "So, why don't we paddle together?" This only got Tony a cautions look from Penny. "Let's make a deal. I'll put more effort into school and band and you'll put in more of an effort to be your own princess. Deal?" asked Tony holding out his hand.

Penny thought about it for a moment then shook his hand. "Deal."

Tony and Penny made their way back to the ball room when Tony had an idea. "How would you like to make two of your subjects happy?" Penny just gave him a weary glance. Tony just smiled.

"I have to warn you; what I have planned will get your mother very angry."

Penny looked over at her mother talking to some of the noblemen's sons. A sudden rush of annoyance came over Penny.

She smiled and said, "What did you have in mind?"

Tony quickly told her the plan. Penny smiled at the thought. They headed in opposite directions. Tony made his way to the throne of King Gregor and Princess Calla.

Tony bowed in respect. "Your Majesty, Your Highness if you don't mind, I would like to ask for a dance from Princess Calla," he said, looking right a Calla.

Calla was hesitant, but she agreed. Calla and Tony made their way back to the center of the floor. Penny walked over to where some of the knights and pages were standing. They bowed in respect as she stood right before Cavin.

"Dear page, would you do me the honor of dancing with me?" asked Penny, curtsying. Cavin was stunned. He was about to accept Penny's offer, but then Unwin stepped in front.

"I'm sure a lovely lady such as yourself would prefer to dance with a real man," he said with a smile.

Penny simply smiled back. "You're right, I would. That is why I asked Cavin."

Penny grabbed Cavin's hand and led him out to the center of the dance floor, leaving Unwin stunned and embarrassed. Tony and Penny danced with Cavin and Calla. Both Calla and Cavin noticed the other and felt embarrassed. This was what Tony had been waiting for. He gave a slight nod to Penny who nodded back.

Tony looked at Calla. "I'm sorry, Princess. You don't seem to be having fun. Well, I guess you'll just have to find another dance partner."

Before Calla could say anything, Tony spun her around and she landed right into Cavin's arms. The two just starred at each other blushing. They turned their heads at Penny's comment.

"Oh dea,r" said Penny in overly obvious fake sad tone. "Who will I dance with now?"

Tony came up to Penny's side and said, in a mocking tone, "Allow me the pleasure, Penny."

Tony took Penny to dance, leaving Calla and Cavin to enjoy each other. Once they got over their embarrassment, they began to dance. Tony and Penny admired their work as the two secret admirers enjoyed their embrace.

6

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**WOW Never thought Tony could be that devious, and What up with Penny Does she have a crush on the young Toon Master?**


	13. Chapter 13:Ballroom Blitz

As everyone enjoyed the ball, a single agent of the Dai Li patrolled one of the corridors. The Dai Li were the elite among the Earth Benders of Ba Sing Se, but this one looked frightened. He nervously looked up and down the corridor as he moved closer to an old storage room that was usually kept locked. He stopped right in front of the door and looked at the lock. The Dai Li agent lifted his hat to reveal Amin Damoolah. Damoolah began to pick the lock. He was almost finished when he heard someone shout, "You there! What are you doing?" Damoolah looked to his right to see Sir Tuxford coming down the corridor followed by two of his knights.

Thinking quickly, Damoolah lowered his hat to hide his face. "I have reason to believe that there are villains hiding in this room," said Damoolah nervously.

Sir Tuxford was skeptical. "This door is always locked. How could anyone get in there?"

Damoolah began to sweat. "I heard a rumor that there is a secret tunnel the villains will be using. I was hoping to seal it."

Sir Tuxford was still skeptical, but if what this Dai Li agent says was true, then it was his responsibility to check it out. "Open the door lad," he said to one of the knights. "If there is fowl play, then we need to stop it."

The solder had just removed the lock when the door slammed into him and threw him against the wall, knocking him out. "What good heaven!" shouted Sir Tuxford as he grabbed his sword. "Warn the king! He must know about th…" Before he could finish his sentence, two fist size rocks slammed into Sir Tuxford and his second knight. When they fell, the villains could see that Long Feng and two of his Dai Li agents were at the other end of the hall.

"What took you so long? You should already be in position," said Long Feng sternly.

"Don't yell at us," snapped Gaston. He grabbed Damoolah by the collar. "This fool took too long getting to the door."

"I-I-I-I-I was making sure that it was safe for you," stammered Damoolah.

"Leave the fool," said Long Feng sternly. "You need get moving. It's almost time."

Gaston dropped Damoolah and headed down the hall followed by Dr. Facilier, McLeach, and Yzma. Long Feng looked at Damoolah, who was cowering on the castle floor. In a calm, but threatening tone, Long Feng said, "Leave." Damoolah did not have to be told twice. He got on his feet and ran into the secret passage out of the castle.

The band started to play another song as Tom and Mary made their way back to the refreshment table. Jim was still there, but he seemed a bit moody.

"Couldn't find anyone to dance with?" asked Mary sympathetically.

"No, I have asked plenty of girls to dance" replied Jim. "They all just not my type."

"Crashed and burned, did ya?" asked Tony as he, Penny, Cavin, and Calla joined them. Their attention was drawn to Razoul, Captain of the Agrabah palace guard and some of his men who were headed to one of the small balconies. The group of teens looked at the scene. They saw some of the Dunwyn castle guards along with Razoul and his guards talking to someone who they could not see.

Tony suddenly had a very bad feeling, he somehow knew something was coming, but didn't know what. His face must have shown something because Cavin asked, "Tony, are you ok?"

Tony just shook his head. Without turning around, Tony said, "Guys, stay sharp. I think were about to get a party crasher." Everyone looked at the scene that seemed to have gotten a little more heated then before. As the guards were now yelling at someone as a dull purple light was beginning to get brighter and brighter.

"HIT THE DECK!" shouted Jim. The group of teens dived under the table. The window exploded, causing a couple of empty tables to be knocked over. The guards that were on the balcony were thrown through the broken window and were now lying, moaning on the ballroom floor.

The teenagers peeked out from under the long tablecloth. The commotion had forced the band to stop playing. Everyone stood frozen. No one dared to move. The one responsible for this walked forward past what was once the glass window and stood at the edge of the ball room. A young boy, about the age of sixteen; he was dressed in a black coat and pants. A dark purple T-shirt could be seen under his coat. On his back could be seen a large ninja star. On his feet were also black military boots with metal buckles and red gloves on his hands. The boy was Rembrant. He just stood looking at the crowd of royals and other dignitaries. His cold blue eyes methodically moved from guest to guest until he found King Gregor. A small malicious smile crossed his face.

Rembrant bowed, "Greetings, Your Majesty," he said, "My apologies for the window, but I did not appreciate the way that filth was speaking to me."

Gregor was angry. Attacking his soldiers was one thing, but call them filth – that was uncalled for. Gregor took a step forward. "Who are you! I demand to know who is responsible for this!"

Rembrant remained calm. "Of course, Your Majesty. Forgive my rudeness. My name is Rembrant and I am the future ruler of this sector."

A large gasp came from the crowd. Many of the summit leaders were angered at this statement and strode forward. Everyone else began to mummer amongst themselves.

Tony and the Stars looked at one another. "Great another one," said Tony as he put his hand on his forehead in aggravation.

"I know," agreed Tom, "Can't these guys come up with something more original, like stealing the world's supply of nacos."

The others just looked at him. Penny shook her head. "Tom, that has got to be the dumbest thing you've said this entire trip. Besides, it's been done."

Mary kept her eyes on Rembrant. She continued to look him over. She noted everything from the way he was standing to the way he spoke and from the look on his face, the size of his ego. Her eyes suddenly flashed with realization. "It's him," she whispered. "This guy must have been the one who sent Clayton and Mechanicles." This got the others attention. Tony wanted a piece of this guy. There was something about him he really didn't like, but there was something familiar about him too.

"This guy is crazy!" said Jim in a hushed voice. "There has to be over 20 heroes here, not counting us. Not to mention the Dai Li patrolling the castle."

"What!" whispered Tony as he spun around. "Who was patrolling the area?"

"The Dai Li," said Penny. "They are an elite group of Earth-"

"I know who they are," snapped Tony. "What I want to know is whose dumb idea was it to let them patrol the halls?"

Calla moved closer. "It was Long Feng's," she said. "He volunteered the Dai Li so the knights could enjoy the ball."

"More like lull everyone into a false sense of security," replied Tony.

"Are you saying Long Feng and his men are with that guy?" asked Cavin.

"I'd bet the Toon Sword they are, but knowing Long Fe ngwe won't be able to prove it," said Tony in disgust.

By this time, most if not all of the heroes and kings had gathered at the front of the crowd. Rembrant did not seem worried though. He just looked at the group until he noticed King Magnus and King Mickey. His eyes widened and his smile grew more malicious.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't his royal majesty, King Magnus," said Rembrant bowing. "It is an honor to see you again. Tell me, is you beautiful daughter here this evening?" The King did not flinch. The Queen, on the other hand, looked like she was ready to pass out. Tony was now fuming. How the SLAG did he know Penny? And why the SLAG did he want to know?

Rembrant did not get the reaction he wanted, so he moved on. "Hmmm, stern and silent as always. You haven't changed much. My deepest apologies, King Mickey. I did not mean to ignore you. You are just person I came to see."

"And why is that?" asked King Mickey with a scowl.

"I had hoped that you would give me your thrown peacefully, there by eliminating a battle."

Mickey looked Rembrant over. "I believe you already know my answer," said Mickey calmly.

Rembrant looked disappointed and shook his head. "I'm disappointed in you King Mickey. I would have thought you, of all beings, would want to save your subjects from being hurt."

The Queen of Hearts stepped forward. "You think you can hurt us? HA! You and what army?"

Rembrant simply snapped his fingers. The entry door came crashing down with a loud CRASH as villains entered the banquet hall caring high tech weaponry. Other villains came from outside, through the window Rembrant smashed. Finally more came out of the kitchen area, trapping everyone in the room.

Some guests gasped in fright. Others hid under tables hoping they would not be seen. Tony and the others looked around in anger. King Mickey looked up at The Queen of Hearts. "You just had to ask."

Rembrant clapped his hand together, getting everyone's attention. "Now that all of you royal retches know that I mean business, let's get to the point. Give me control over this sector or face some old friends."

"I thought we made our selves clear, Rembrant," said King Gregor. "We will not give you anything."

"Like I said before, I had hoped no one would get hurt."

Once Rembrant had finished his sentence, Haroud walked out of the crowd still disguised as a palace servant. He was carrying a big sack with something moving in it.

Haroud reached into the sack and pulled out-

"Sunni!" gasped Calla. Tony, Penny, Mary, and Cavin were just as shocked to see Sunni tied up and gagged in Haroud's hand.

That was it. This was the last straw. Tony could not take any more of this. He looked over his shoulder and saw his team. They were ready to go. Luckily no one had noticed the Stars were close to Rembrant and Haroud, since all eyes were on them. Tony turned to his team, then reached into his jacket's inner pocket and pulled out everyone's weapon.

Mary was shocked. "Tony, how did you do that?"

He smiled. "The pants are Tommy Hill and the jacket is ACME Labs." The Stars quickly hid their weapons. Before they could discuss a plan, Tom noticed someone was missing.

"Where Cavin?" asked Tom. Calla gasped as she looked at the rafters. There was Cavin, crawling along the rafters with his training staff.

"How did he get up there?" asked Jim.

He most likely used one of the Gummis secret tunnels. "Doesn't matter," replied Tony. "I'll distract the head goon. You guys transform and attack while they are distracted." Before anyone could protest, Tony grabbed a large serving tray and moved into the crowd.

"So, what will it be, rodent?" asked Rembrant as he reached behind his back. He grabbed the ninja star from his back; it looked like a four point throwing star. A hole in the middle of the weapon had a handle which he grabbed and pointed the blade at Sunni. "Your sector or the Gummi Bear's life?" No one moved. No one dared breathe. The room went silent for a few second till someone shouted, "Hey Rem-Brat heads up!"

Rembrant looked up to see a serving tray coming right at him. He used the blade to cut the tray. This was what Cavin was waiting for. He jumped from his perch and slammed his staff right in to Haroud's face. Haroud let go of Sunni as he grabbed his face in pain.

Cavin caught Sunni and headed back to the crowd. Rembrant stared in anger at Cavin, believing he was the one who threw the tray.

"You little pest!" he shouted and the same purple light as before formed around Rembrant's hand. He was about to fire when…

"BY THE POWER OF TOON WORLD!"

The room was filled with golden lightning as Tony transformed in mid-air. Rembrant forgot about Cavin as he blocked Tony's vertical attack as Tony landed on his feet. The two stood dead locked until both pushed the other back.

"So, you're the new Toon Master?" asked Rembrant curiously.

"Yup. The name's Tony Masters. I'll be kicking your butt. today Please enjoy" answered Tony with a smile.

Rembrant simply smiled. "You don't look so tough!" Besides being older and what looked to be a bit more muscular, Rembrant was a least a good foot later than Tony.

"Don't you know big things come in small packages?"

"We'll see," said Rembrant, as he got into a battle position. "Everyone, now is the time to strike. Bottoms up!" he shouted.

The villains then took out their enhanced Gummi Berry juice and drank it. The crowd could see the effects of the juice immediately. The villains with the red juice became more muscular. Those that drank the Blue juice seemed to be moving faster. And finally, those who drank the yellow juice had an eerie aura around their bodies.

Tony was confused. He recognized the bottles used for Gummi Berry juice, but he had never seen this kind of reaction before. He looked at Rembrant. "You think you're the only one with backup?"

"SUPER STAR POWER!"

As if on cue, the Super Stars transformed and joined their leader, ready to fight.

Rembrant had a savage look in his eye. This made the smile on his face all the more sinister. Rembrant thrust his weapon forward and shouted, "ATTACK!"

A roar of voices echoed off the walls as villains and heroes began to fight. Aladdin was fighting Jafar, using his agility and wits. Hercules was fighting Gaston using his godly strength. King Mickey was fighting some of Dr. Facilier's shadow creates with a giant…key. Ok, what's up with that?

Penny and Tom worked with the Beast to clear a path for the innocent bystanders to escape. At the same time, the Queen of Hearts playing card guards joined the battle.

"OFF with their HEADS!" shouted the Queen of Hearts.

"Who's your majesty?" asked the four of clubs.

"ANYONES!" she shouted as she used her scepter to bash both Razoul and Haroud on the head. Tony was fighting with Rembrant. As their weapons clashed, sparks flew from the battle between metals. That was when the Queen's playing card guards attacked them both.

"This is not what I need right now," said Tony as he fought off the guards and Rembrant. The card guards were easy for Tony to dispatch, but Rembrant was a skilled fighter. For every move Tony had, he was able to counter it. The same could be said for Tony. The two seemed evenly matched.

"You fight pretty well for a newbie," said Rembrant as he attacked Tony' side.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself," remarked Tony, blocking the attack and punching Rembrant in the face.

"It's a shame were on opposing sides," commented Rembrant, dodging the punch.

"So true," said Tony as he dodged a vertical swipe. Then he back flipped and kicked Rembrant in the face. "So ready to change sides yet?"

Rembrant stumbled back a bit and rubbed his chin. "Now?" he asked with a smile. "Thing are just getting interesting. I want to see what else that old fool taught you."

He lunged at Tony, this time using both hands to spin his weapon like a buzz saw. Tony spun in a circle to deflect the attack and counter with a kick to the ribs. Rembrant grit his teeth in pain. He turned and looked at the Toon Master.

"What old fool?" asked Tony. "I get most of my training from the Stars."

Tony lunched himself forward, brining his sword down on Rembrant only to be caught in a dead lock again. The two just stared at each other.

Rembrant seemed to getting annoyed. "Don't lie to me. I know that buffoon, Theodore, taught you something and I want to see it," said Rembrant as he kicked Tony in the gut. Tony was knocked back. He tried to regain his breathing.

Tony just stood there catching his breath. He looked at Rembrant with rage in his eyes. With his sight fixed on his opponent, Tony did not see his hands glowing blue and purple. "You're right. Theodore did teach me something" said Tony. "He taught me to never let anyone insult my family!" He then charged, sword low. Rembrant swung his blade across Tony's chest, but he ducked and Rembrant was left wide open. Tony gave a diagonal upward swing of his sword. Rembrant dodged the sword, but not the energy that was released. The wave of energy hit him square in the chest sending him flying out through another window, breaking it. Tony stood there smiling. Then he realized what he did. He looked over at King Magnus, Mickey, and Gregor, all of whom looked surprised at the young Toon Master.

Tony gave weak laugh and pointed at the newly broken window, "I can pay for that." He then flew off after Rembrant.

Penny and Jim were handling themselves with the villains who had enhanced speed and strength. This, they were used to. Tom and Mary on the other hand were not fairing so well with the enhanced magic users. A constant stream of spells and magical blasts rained down on the two Stars.

"We sure could use another person on our team that could use magic," said Mary.

"Did someone say magic?" Above Mary and Tom's head appeared the great blue genie, Genie. (That's not a typo – his name really is Genie.) After being freed by Aladdin, Genie stuck around to help the Agrabanian hero with his semi-phenominal, nearly cosmic powers and ultra-zanny sense of humor.

"Not to worry, citizens," cried Genie, striking a pose. "I am here to help." He disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared right in front of the villains Jafar, Mozenrath, Maleficent, Dr. Facilier, and Mad Madam Mim. They all stopped firing when Genie surprised them.

"You guys call that magic?" asked Genie skeptically. The villains just stared at him, unsure how to respond. "You are all just one small step away from being a Las Vegas opening act. And do you know why? Because you are all out of shape. You all need to bulk up with my magerobics class."

With a wave of Genie's hand, the corner of the ballroom turned into an exercise area complete with mats, weight machines, and that stupid ceiling length mirror that lets you see how much of your flab is jiggling. The clothing of all the villains was changed into sweatshirts, sweatpants, and shorts.

Genie appeared in the front of the group in the guise of a blue-skinned Richard Simmons. "Okay people, it's time to work those magic muscles. Follow me – and one and two and one and two."

Perky exercise music played as Genie's magic forced the villains to copy his movements. They stretched and squatted, jumped and kicked, waddled and wiggled. They exercised faster and faster as the music sped up.

"And one and twoandoneandtwoandoneandtwo."

Genie kept grooving and bopping, his arms and legs a blur, until the music stopped. "There now, doesn't that just get your blood flowing." He looked around to see all the magical villains had collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted. Some of them weren't exactly young, you know.

"Hmmm, maybe we should have started with a few light calisthenics instead," said Genie.

Outside ,Rembrant landed on the ground hard. He did not expect that kind of attack from the young rookie. Tony landed near his opponent. "So ready to give up?"

"You can't be serious?" replied Rembrant. "This fight had only gotten started!" He let loose a barrage of energy blasts.

Tony flew to avoid them. "You know, being able to fly is a great asset."

Rembrant touched his boots. They stated to vibrate, then jet burners burst to life. The jet boots propelled Rembrant up to where Tony was floating. "You don't say."

"Me and my big mouth." Tony was tackled and thrown into a tree. He grunted in pain. Tony flew straight up to avoid getting hit by another energy blast. Even in the air, the two seemed to be evenly matched. At one point, Tony thought he was getting the upper hand when Rembrant threw his weapon at Tony and he easily dodged it, but was unable to dodge the energy beam Rembrant fired. It hit Tony square in the chest. He slammed into the ground making a hole in the outline of his body.

"How did that feel boy?" shouted Rembrant.

"Not as bad as I thought," replied Tony. "It was worth it though. You lost your weapon." That was when Tony heard a faint humming noise. He turned and ducked back into the hole he made and just missed getting hit by Rembrant's weapon.

"Good try, Toon Master" he laughed, "but my X-Axe always comes back to me."

"Ok, two can play that game!" shouted Tony.

"_Nightcrawler!_"

Tony could feel the power of the X-Men Nightcrawler, also known as Curt Wagner. He was a mutant with the ability to teleport up to two miles in any direction from his current position. Curt was also a great acrobat. This fact enhanced Tony's already quick agility. Tony shot back in to the air. Rembrant fired an energy beam that Tony avoided, only to see the X-Axe coming straight to him. Tony could only smile as he teleported just before the X-Axe hit him. Rembrant heard a soft _puff_. He turned just to be punched in the face. The punch knocked him off balance. Rembrant fell a couple of feet, but recovered just to see Tony teleport in front of him and lay down a series of punchs and kicks. Rembrant tried to block all the punches, but Tony was too quick. Every time he moved, Tony would just teleport right beside him. Tony delivered a heavy roundhouse kick to the back of Rembrant's head, causing him to slam to the ground and knock over the tree he slammed Tony into earlier. Tony changed his arms with plasma energy. He spread is arms wide.

"_Plasma Pulse!" _

Tony brought is arms together releasing the energy in a disk of plasma which was heading straight for Rembrant. Rembrant began to pick himself up, but noticed the attack After the beating he got from Tony, he was not quick enough to move out of the way.

Back in the banquet hall, the villains were gaining the upper hand, thanks to the idiocy of the Queen of Hearts. The Stars were able to knock out or subdue most of the Magic and Speed Juice users. Unfortunately those with the enhanced super strength were still up and kicking…literally.

Jim hit the wall after receiving a kick from Gaston. Penny dodged a punch that smashed a hole in the wall. The Super Star princess jumped and landed a kick to Gaston's face. This only made the already bulking behemoth angry.

"How dare you strike the best looking hunter here!" he shouted. Penny's eye twitched in aggravation. His ego and arrogance were really starting to annoy her. Gaston raised his fist and brought it down on Penny. She easily avoided it, but did not see the back hand that slammed her in the face, sending her across the room and into the wall. Dazed, Penny could see a fuzzy figure raise both hands in the air. As Penny's vision cleared she could see Gaston ready to attack until two large boulders slammed into Gaston from opposite sides. Then a third hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall unconscious to the floor. Penny was surprised when she looked up to see Long Feng was the one that rescued her. Looking around she could now see that the Dunwyn castle guards along with the Dai Li and other forces were joining the fight. Long Fe extended a hand to Penny. She cautiously took it, remembering what Tony had said about him and his Dai Li.

"A battle is no place for a princess. It goes against tradition," said Long Feng.

Penny jerked her hand out of Long Feng's grasp. "Fighting crime _is_ a tradition in my family!" snapped Penny. Surprising Long Feng, Penny gave him one last glare then went back to help Jim and the others.

Back outside, the attack continued. Tony watched as the dust cloud began to clear. Tony could hear a humming sound. He quickly started looking around for the X-Axe. He could hear laughter. It started soft, but quickly got louder. Tony looked back at where he sent his attack. There was the X-Axe, spinning in place, acting as a shield, protecting Rembrant from his plasma pulse.

"Did you really think you could take me down so easily?" asked Rembrant.

"Well, you know. A guy can dream, can't he?" replied Tony. "Besides you can barely stand. Just give up. Maybe if you take your vitamins and some supplements, you'll be able to keep up with me and powers one day."

Remebrant smiled wickedly as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out three bottles. Tony quickly recognized the bottles as Gummi Berry Juice bottles, but the color was all wrong. He had never see Gummi Berry Juice in red, yellow, or blue.

Despite that, Tony was not worried. "I don't know how you got Gummi Berry Juice, but I wouldn't recommend using it," said Tony as a friendly warning.

"Oh? And why not?" asked Rembrant.

"Because I've seen what the side effects of a bad batch of juice can do. Trust me, it isn't pretty."

"And what if I told you the juice is fine, with an enhancer added to it?"

"Really?" said Tony surprised, "Well that would be something completely diff-WHAT?"

Rembrant uncorked the three bottles and drank them all at once.

"What are you doing? You can't drink all that juice at once. Besides, those enhancers probably aren't even FDA approved" said Tony.

A strange dark purple aura surrounded Rembrant. He screamed as the aura blasted from his body. The wave of energy hit Tony, causing him to fall to the ground. Tony teleported to the ground and landed safely. He turned to look at Rembrant, Apparently the three enhancers were not meant to be taken together. Rembrant's body had grown to twice its normal size and to say Rembrant was now ripped would be an understatement. In a blink of an eye, Rembrant was gone. Tony looked around, but saw nothing.

Suddenly, a giant fist made contact with Tony's gut. Tony flew through the air as he tried to regain his breathing. His attempts were useless because the now hulking Rembrant appeared above Tony and slammed both of his palms into Tony's face ,sending him crashing to the ground. Once the dust cloud cleared, Tony was lying in a small crater, as he began to get up. Tony climbed up out of the crater to see Rembrant standing over him.

"You were right. Those supplements really helped," said Rembrant.

"I really need to keep my mouth shut," groaned Tony.

A large hand wrapped around Tony's neck. Rembrant picked him up and head butted the hero and then delivered a rib cracking knee to Tony's side. Rembrant reached for his X-Axe. He positioned the blade, ready to impale Tony. The young hero was able to open one eye and see this coming. Running on instinct, Tony teleported 2 miles away from the incoming blade.

Tony leaned against a hill to catch his breath. "OK, let's play 'what do we know'," he said to himself. "We know that Rem-Brat drank some modified Gummi Berry Juice and became faster and stronger. We know this guy is a complete loon and will probably destroy the castle and everyone if given the chance… WAIT! Gummi Berry Juice has a temporary effect. All I have to do is stall until the effect wear off."

"Unless the Juice's effects last longer."

"Unless the juices effects…" Tony froze, then looked up to see Rembrant with his X-Axe raised, ready to strike.

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt a conversation someone is having with themselves?" asked Tony. He teleported behind Rembrant and delivered a punch that usually dented steal, only this time Tony's hand was what got dented. Tony grabbed his hand, tying to ease the pain, when he teleported again to avoid getting cut in two.

"Ok, a physical fight won't work," Tony said.

"And nether will running away!" shouted Rembrant from behind.

Tony turned at the sound of Rembrant's voice, then flew into the air to avoid getting blasted.

"How do you keep finding me?" he asked. "I moved two miles away from you."

Rembrant smiled. "I'm able to track your energy. Every time you teleport you release energy. With my new speed, I can catch you no matter where to go."

"Ok," said Tony, "if you want to play tag…" Tony teleported. Rembrant just closed his eyes and waited for Tony's energy to spike. He was surprised that Tony was now in front of him. He opened his eyes to see Tony face to face with him.

"Tag, you're IT! _Plasma Pulse!_" he said.

Rembrant was not ready for such an attack at close range. Tony hit his mark at point blank range, causing some damage to Rembrant and to himself. Rembrant was sent back a few feet and went down on one knee he stumbled a bit to regain his balance.

"You don't like my plasma attacks? Then have some more!" shouted Tony, releasing another plasma pulse. Rembrant dodged, just to find himself in front of a second pulse. It hit and Rembrant rolled along the ground until he hit a tree. Tony teleported to Rembrant and drew the Toon Sword. He charged the blade with plasma energy.

"_Plasma Blade!"_

The wave attack was dead on, but Rembrant drew his X-Axe and blocked the attack. Rembrant lunged at Tony. Their blades clashed. For each attack one gave, the other parried, until they were in a dead lock again. Tony was charging the Toon Sword for another attack. Rembrant grabbed the handle of the X-Axe with both hands and twisted it up, causing Tony to lose his grip and sent the Toon Sword flying. It landed behind Tony. He tried to teleport to get it, but he was too slow. Tony cried out as a large sheering pain coursed through his left arm as the X-Axe was plunged through it. Tony finally teleported away. All he could do was fall to his knees, grasping his arm in pain.

"Give up, Toon Master. You can't beat me!" said Rembrant with a malicious smile.

He was right. All those plasma attacks took a lot of energy. Tony was barely hanging on to Nightcrawler's power. He only had one teleport left in him. He had to make it good. Tony looked at his wounded arm. Blood was pouring out. He had to finish this fight now, but how? Then Tony noticed his arms were still charged from when he was going to use his plasma blade. All the energy stored in his left arm traveled to his right. Tony could feel the added power in his arm. It threatened to rip it off. He had to get rid of it and he knew just the way to do it.

"It's over, Toon Master!" shouted Rembrant triumphantly. "With your death, nothing is going to stop me from ruling this whole dimension!" Rembrant lunged at Tony.

"We'll just see about that!" Tony stood and pulled back his arm. "_Plasma_…"

Rembrant brought the X-Axe down like a guillotine. He looked down to see Tony untouched, crouched between him and his outstretched weapon.

"_PUNCH!"_

Tony thrust the plasma filled fist right into Rembrant's gut. Rembrant felt the sheer power behind the attack. It threatened to go right through him. Then Rembrant began to move backwards. He tried to hold his ground, but to no avail. The force of the attack was too much. Rembrant was sent flying backward through several trees, finally stopping once he crashed into one of the transport ships.

Tony was also sent flying back from the force of his own attack. Breathing heavily, having no energy left, he lay on the ground and reverted back to civilian form. The battle was tougher than Tony expected. Even the tux he wore had cuts and tears in it. Tony looked at his arm; it was still bleeding. He lay there flat on his back, breathing hard. He turned his head in the direction he sent Rembrant.

"Slag it."

There stood Rembrant. He had reverted back to his normal self too. The effects of the Juice seemed to have worn off. His right arm hung limp. He had multiple cuts and bruises all over his body. Even the metal buckles on his boots seemed to have taken damage. He was breathing heavy, but most noticeable was the savage glare in his eyes as he looked at Tony.

"You…" he said. "You…You ruined everything."

Tony just smiled. "I know. I get that a lot."

His comment only fuelled Rembrant's rage. "Don't get cocky. You have nothing left. I could kill you without any effort. What makes you think you're so much better?"

"Simple," said Tony, still smiling. He looked past Rembrant. "My team."

Rembrant spun around and stared in shock. Tony was right. There stood his team, battle worn but still ready to fight. In addition to the Stars, Sir Tuxford and the Dunwyn army, along with all the other guards and heroes stood ready to strike. Rembrant looked at the armada before him; he knew he was outmatched.

"Don't get comfortable," said Rembrant in a snide tone. "I'll be back, don't worry." He looked over his shoulder to see Genie picking Tony up. He gave a small smile. "I'll let you hold on to my sword for now Masters. I'll be back for it soon enough." Rembrant pressed a button on his glove. A bright flash of light blinded everyone. When it faded, Rembrant was gone.

Penny and the other stars ran up to Tony, still in Genies arms.

"Tony, are you ok?" asked Penny, her voice filled with concern.

He just smiled at her. "No problem. That guy was just a little tougher that I thought."

Tony's smile made the worried princess feel better. That's when Jim noticed Tony was holding his arm.

"Tony!" he shouted. "What happened?" Jim pointed to Tony's bleeding arm.

"Oh, this. Tis a flesh wound."

"Flesh wound or not, we need to get that looked at," said Genie as he POOFED everyone back to the castle. Everything in the bequest hall was trashed. The tables were turned to splinters. There were some holes and cracks in the walls and some of the balconies were ripped apart. Genie laid Tony on one of the cots provided for those with serious injuries. Penny and the other stars crowed around him.

"Ok, everybody ready?" asked Genie as he floated back to join Merlin, Flora, Fona, Marryweather, Donald, and King Mickey himself. They used their magic to heal everyone who was injured. Tony watched as the magic healed his arm, making it look as though nothing had happened. Tony sat up slowly and looked at his team, who smiled to see their leader was ok.

King Mickey stepped forward, "I hope everyone is ok. King Gregor and I want to apologize for what happened this evening. We tried our best to prevent villains from undermining the Summit, in hopes to push world leaders farther apart. But obviously, that's not the case." He looked around at everyone, then King Mickey continued, "Tonight we have proven that these Summits indeed bring our worlds closer together. I hope we can all continue to work together to keep peace in this sector and in the Tooniverse. It has been proven tonight that the Toon Sword indeed chose the right man for the job. With our strength, along with the help of the Toon Master and his team, I'm sure Dr. Claw's reign of terror will soon be stopped."

The crowd erupted in cheers as both royals and commoners cheered for the Hero teens. The Stars high fived each other as the group was soon surrounded by grateful leaders and staff.

"You may have won the battle Gregor, but I was right!" shouted Duke Igthorn, "Gummi Bears are real and you saw it with your own eyes!"

Penny and Tony were ready for round two with Igthorn, until Mary spoke up.

"Did you mean this Gummi Bear?" asked Mary as she held up at what could have passed as Sunni Gummi, with the exception of all the stuffing that was falling out of several large cuts in the toy. "Sorry, it looks like your pals got a little too excited."

Igthorn just stared in shock as he and the others were lead to the castle dungeon. Cavin leaned in close. "Where did you get that?" he whispered.

"I used a Decoy Justu to create a phony Sunni" replied Mary with a smile.

All too soon it was time to leave. Tony stood in front of Toon Force One with the other Stars behind the royal family.

King Gregor shook hands with King Magnus. "It was a pleasure seeing you and your family again, Magnus. I hope it does not take you so long to visit again."

Magnus gave a small chuckle. "I'll do my best."

"And Brigit, always a pleasure," said Gregor, bowing.

The queen curtsied in reply. "As always, Gregor."

Cavin walked up to Tony and the others as Calla gave Penny another goodbye hug. "I hope everything goes well in your fight against M.A.D.," said Calla.

Penny looked back at Tony, who was talking with Cavin and the others. "You know, I have good feeling it will," she said giving Calla another hug.

Calla approached Tony. He bowed in respect and Calla replied with a curtsy.

"I wanted to personally thank you for defending our kingdom, Mr. Masters," said Calla

"No need to thank me. I was just helping out my friends," he said. "Oh, one more thing. My friends call me Tony." Tony extended his hand to Calla, who looked at it with apprehension. Tony chuckled. "Don't worry I'm not going to kiss your hand. I wouldn't want to make Cavin jealous," he said pointing his thumb at Cavin who was turning red. The others laughed. Calla giggled as she gave Cavin a small peck on the cheek. She then looked back at Tony.

"Now I'm counting on you to take care of Penny," she said in stern, but friendly tone.

"I will do the best that I can. I mean, after all, this is Penny were talking about," said Tony with a sly smile. Penny simply glanced behind her and said, "Snails."

Tony's whole body shuttered and everyone burst out laughing. Even Penny was laughing, which earned her a nasty glare from her mother.

Composing herself, Calla again addressed Tony. "You must have something special about you, Tony," she stated.

"Really?" he asked. "What makes you say that?"

She looked at Penny. "I haven't seen Penny truly smile in quite some time and you have even been able to make her laugh." Both Tony and Penny blushed from embarrassment. "You must be an exceptional person," she said.

Tony fidgeted at the comment. "Well…I try."

Another round of laughter and it was time to leave. As the ship took off Tony, Penny, Tom, Mary, and Jim waved goodbye to their friends. Tony nudged Penny and pointed to Calla and Cavin. When Penny looked, she could see that Cavin was holding Calla's hand. She smiled. _Good for them,_ she thought.

11

**Another happy ending, Looks like Penny and Tony have somthing, and what about thia Rembrant...How does he know Penny and King Magnus? Tony's newest Attack was AWSOME! Be on the look out for Episode 7: We're on a Gipsy Caravan. Keep those review comming.**


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